k 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  NATIONS 


POLAND 


BY 
W.  R.  MORFILL,  M.A. 

;■ 

SEADER   IN   RUSSIAN   AND  OTHER  SLAVONIC  LANGUAGES  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OX- 
FORD, CORRESPONDING  MEMBER  OF  THE  ROYAL  SCIENTIFK"  SOCIETY 
OF  BOHEMIA,  AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  STORY  OF  RUSSIA," 
"SLAVONIC  LITERATURE,"  ETC. 


I 


NEW  YORK 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

LONDON:  T.  FISHER  UNWIN 


■gS^t' 


copyright,  1893 
By  G.  p.  Putnam's  Sons 

Mntered  at  Stationers'  Hally  London 

By  T.  Fisher  Unwin 


.^^^^**' 


tCbe  ftnicfterbocfter  press 


JOHN    SOBIESKJ. 


PREFACE. 


I  HAVE  written  this  little  book  on  Poland  on  the 
same  lines  as  my  previous  work  on  Russia  in  this 
series.  The  plan  of  the  work  is  to  give  a  readable 
history  of  the  country  by  bringing  into  prominence 
the  more  stirring  episodes  and  salient  characteristics, 
and  putting  in  the  background  the  details  which  must 
prove  less  interesting.  At  the  same  time,  the  thread 
of  the  history  is  never  intentionally  lost  sight  of.  It 
is  but  fair  to  add  that  the  work  is  based  entirely  upon 
original  and  native  authorities,  and  no  mere  com- 
pilations have  been  emplo}  ed. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  give  in  detail  the 
chief  ethnological  elements  of  the  population  ;  and 
for  those  who  wish  to  study  Polish  history  more 
minutely  a  list  has  been  added  of  the  most  important 
works  on  the  subject. 

My  book  has  no  political  bias  :  it  is  not  ten- 
densioSy  as  the  Germans  say.  •  I  have  told  the  tale 
of  Poland — a  very  mournful  one — and  have  never 
intentionally  perverted  or  concealed  the  truth.  I 
have  given  what  I  think  were  the  causes*  of  the 
fall    of    this    once    powerful    kingdom ;    but,   while 


321476 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

endeavouring  to  discharge  the  duty  of  an  honest 
writer  of  history,  I  have  been  unwilling  to  per- 
form merely  a  cold-blooded  dissection  of  the  un- 
fortunate country  ;  its  limbs,  although  distort'^d, 
are  still  instinct  with  life.  But  the  writer  of  history 
is  not  required  to  be  a  political  advocate  ;  the  less  he 
attempts  anything  of  the  kind  the  better  his  history 
will  probably  be.  I  hope  my  chapter  on  the  litera- 
ture may  be  serviceable  in  awakening  an  interest  in 
the  Polish  language,  still  spoken  by  upwards  of  ten 
millions.  No  one  can  read  the  literature  of  Poland 
without  feeling  a  warm  sympathy  with  this  interesting 
people. 

It  only  remains  that  I  should  thank  my  friend,  Dr. 
George  Birkbeck  Hill,  the  editor  of  Boswell,  for 
kindly  looking  through  the  proof  sheets  and  aiding 
me  with  many  valuable  suggestions. 

W.  R.  MORFILL. 


CONTENTS. 


Preface 


PAGE 

vii 


The  Country  and  People  of  Poland 


1-19 


Cracow — Lemberg — Brest-litovsk — The  Vistula — The  Polish 
Language — The  Lithuanians — The  Ugro-Finnish  Race — The 
Jews. 

IL 

The  Sagas  of  Early  Polish  History      .         .     20-24 
Leszek — The  Lekhs. 

in. 

The    Rise    of    Polish    Nationality.      From    the 
Reign  of  Mieczyslaw   L  (962)  to  the  Death 

OF    BOLESLAS    THE    BrAVE    (1026)    .  .  .       25-30 

Otho  IIL  and  Boleslas — Boleslas  the  Great. 


IV. 

From  the  Death  of  Boleslas  the  Brave  to  the 
Beginning  of  the  Reign  of  Przemyslaw  I.      31-37 

The  Interdict — Conrad  of  Masovia — Leszek,  the  Black. 


X  CONTENTS. 

V. 

PAGE 

From   the   Beginning   of  the   Reign   of  Prze.my- 

SLAW    I.    (1295)    TO    THE    MARRIAGE    OF    JaDWIGA 
AND   JaGIELLO    (1386) 38-50 

Ladislaus  Lokietek — Galicia  acquired — Germans  in  Poland — 
Festivities  at  Cracow — Jadwiga — Ladislaus  Jagiello. 


VI. 

The  Early  Jagiellos.     From   Ladislaus  Jagiello 

TO   SiGISMUND    I.       I386-1507  .  .  .       51-69 

Vitovt — The  Treaty  of  Thorn — Casimir  IV. — ^John  Albert 
elected  —  Buonacorsi  —  Alexander — The  diet  at  Radom — 
Clement  the  smith — A  cruel  aristocracy. 


VII. 

The  Jagiellos.  Sigismund  I.  (1507-1548),  Sigis- 
MUND  II.,  Augustus  (1548-15 7 2).  The  Elected 
Sovereigns,  Henry  of  Valois  (1574-1575), 
and  Stephen  Batory    (15 76-1 586)  .         •     70-117 

Copernicus — Luxury  of  the  Nobles — The  University  of 
Cracow — Nicholas  Radziwill  —  Duke  Albert — The  Polish 
Embassy — Henry  and  Zborowski — The  banquet  at  Paris — 
Flight  of  Henry — Batory  elected — Batory's  Plans — Death  of 
Batory — Anna  Jagiellonka — The  Condition  of  Poland — The 
Dissidents — Albert  Laski. 


VIII. 

Further  Decline  of  the  Country— Reigns  of 
Sigismund  III.,  Ladislaus  IV.,  John  Casimir, 
AND  Michael  Korybut    ....     1 18-154 

John  of  Sweden  —  Sigismund  HL — The  Uniates — Jan 
Zamojski — The  False  Demetrius — Smotrycki — ^Jan  Laski — 
Marie   Louise — The  Polish  Embassy — Polish  Cookery — The 


CONTENTS.  XI 

PAGE 

Cossacks — Colloquium  Charitativum — Liberuin  veto — Inva- 
sion of  the  Swedes — Marie  Louise — Abdication  of  John 
Casimir — Death  of  John  Casimir — Michael  Korybut. 

IX. 

The  Reign  of  John  Sobieski        .        ,        .     155-192 

Siege  of  Vienna — Kolszicki — Retreat  of  the  Turks — The 
King's  Letter — Sobieski's  Triumph — Death-bed  of  Sobieski 
— South's  Description — Clementina  Sobieska — The  French 
Abbe — Marie  Casimire — Madame  Royale — The  Polish  Nobles 
—The  Polish  Diet. 


X. 

Decline    of   Poland — The    Saxon    Kings. 

1698- 

1763 

.     193-211 

Charles  XIL— Treaty  of  Altranstadt— Charles  XIL  at  Bender 
— Courland — The  Dissidents — ^Journey  of  Stanislaus — Escape 
of  Stanislaus — Charles  XIL — Augustus  III. 


XI. 

Stanislaus  Poniatowski — The  Three   Partitions. 
1764-1795         212-252 

The  Confederation  of  Bar — Plot  against  the  King — Perils  of 
Stanislaus  —  Count  Beniowski  —  First  Dismemberment — 
Poninski — The  New  Government — Zabiello — New  Constitu- 
tion— The  Peasantry — The  Diets — Conduct  of  the  Prussians 
Kosciuszko — Maciejowice — Kosciuszko  in  France — Stanislaus 
abdicates — Stanislaus  in  Russia. 


XII. 

The  Poles  as   Subjects  of   Russia,  Austria,  and 
Prussia 253-268 

Treaty  of  Vienna — Constantine — Warsaw  taken — Ancillon — 
The  Galician  Massacres — The  Secret  Committee — Muraviev, 


Xli  CONTENTS. 

XIII. 

PAGE 

Polish  Literature  .        .        .        .        .     269-326 

Queen  Margaret's  Psalter — Dlugosz — Copernicus — Szymono- 
wicz — Kromer — Orzechowski — Skarga — Gornicki — Potocki — 
Morsztyn  —  Kilinski —  Rzewuski  —  Niemcewicz  —  Mickiewicz 
Malczewski  —  Fredro  —  Lelewel — Szajnocha  —  Kraszewski — 
Ujejski. 

XIV. 
The  Social  Condition  of  Poland  »      .        .     327-358 

The  Nobility— The  Burghers— The  Peasants— The  Kmetons 
— The  Villages — Courland — The  Jews — The  Szlachta—?o\\'^ 
Legislation — The  Kmetons — Polish  dress — The  Nobility — The 
Polish  Kings 

XV. 

Political   and    Literary    Landmarks — Authori- 
ties       359-375 

Historical  Dates — Summary — Literary  Dates — Bobrzynski — 
V.  Krasinski — Coxe — Mickiewicz — White  Russian. 

List  of  Polish  Kings 376 

Genealogical  Table  of  the  Jagiellos        .        .  378 

Genealogical  Table  of  the  Sobieskis         .        .  379 

Ind£x •        •        •        .  381 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


JOHN  SOBIESKI Frontispiece 

MAP  TO   ILLUSTRATE  THE  FINAL  PARTITION  OF  POLAND, 

1795       •         •         • To  face  page  i 

PAGE 

THE  JAGIELLO   LIBRARY  AT  CRACOW          ....  6 

SEAL  OF   MIESZKO   THE   ELDER" 2$ 

A    CUP     PRESERVED     IN     THE     CATHEDRAL     OF     PLOCK, 

GIVEN   BY  CONRAD   I.,    DUKE  OF  MASOVIA            .           .  35 

SEAL  OF   PRZEMYSLAW   I.,   DUKE  OF  GREAT   POLAND        .  39 

SEAL  OF  CASIMIR   THE   GREAT 41 

SEAL  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CRACOW  (1333-1370)  ...  43 
TOMB  OF   CASIMIR    THE    GREAT  IN   THE  CATHEDRAL   AT 

CRACOW 48 

SEAL  OF  CASIMIR  THE  GREAT 50 

THE  CATHEDRAL   AT  CRACOW    IN    ITS    ORIGINAL    FORM. 

FOURTEENTH   AND   FIFTEENTH   CENTURIES        .           •  57 

SEAL  OF  JANUSZ  AND  STANISLAUS  OF  MASOVIA,  1520  .  59 
MONUMENT     OF     CARDINAL     FREDERICK    JAGIELLO     IN 

THE  CATHEDRAL  AT  CRACOW 62 

SIGISMUND   1 71 

ALBERT  OF   BRANDENBURG 73 

CHRIST  DISPUTING  WITH  THE  DOCTORS— WITH  FIGURES 

OF  SIGISMUND  AND   HUSSITES    INTRODUCED      .  7$ 
xiii 


XIV  LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

THE    FLORIAN    GATE    AT    CRACOW    AS    IT  APPEARED   IN 

1498 78 

SIGISMUND   AUGUSTUS 80 

SEAL  OF   SIGISMUND   I.   AS  DUKE  OF  GLOGAU             .           .  81 

GOLD   PIECE   OF  TEN   DUCATS   OF   SIGISMUND   AUGUSTUS  8 1 

PORTRAIT  OF  ETJZABETH,  FIRST  WIFE  OF   SIGISMUND   II.  83 

SILVER-GILT   MEDAL   OF  ALBERT  OF   BRANDENBURG         .  87 

SIGISMUND  AUGUSTUS 89 

MAP  OF  POLAND   AND   LITHUANIA   AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE 

UNION  OF  LUBLIN,    1 569 91 

HENRY  DE  VALOIS 99 

STEPHEN   BATORY        I04 

COIN  OF  STEPHEN   BATORY I07 

TOMB  OF  ANNA  JAGIELLONKA    IN    THE    CATHEDRAL    AT 

CRACOW Ill 

SIGISMUND  III 120 

COIN  OF  SIGISMUND   III I23 

THE  STATUE  OF  SIGISMUND   III.   AT  WARSAW            .          .  I30 

COIN  OF  LADISLAUS   IV. I33 

JOHN   CASIMIR 142 

COIN   OF  JOHN   CASIMIR I49 

COIN   OF  MICHAEL       .  .  .  .  .  ,  .  .153 

PLAN   OF  THE   SIEGE  OF  VIENNA   IN    1683  .  .  .159 

COIN  OF   JOHN   SOBIESKI I72 

THE   POLISH   DIET 1 89 

{Explanation  of  the  Letters  in  the  Picture: — A,  The  King; 
B,  The  Ten  Ofificers  of  the  Crown  ;  C,  The  Archbishop  of 
Gnesen  ;  D,  The  other  Ecclesiastical  Senators  ;  E,  Foreign 
Ambassadors  admitted  to  the  Diet  ;  F,  The  Palatines  and 
Castellans ;  G,  The  Deputies  ;  H,  The  Speaker  of  the 
Deputies  ;  I,  Vacant  Seats  fcjr  others  sometimes  admitted. 
I,  The  Arms  of  Poland  ;  2,  The  Arms  of  Lithuania.) 


THE  STORY  OF  POLAND. 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  PEOPLE  OF   POLAND. 


The  conclusion  of  last  century  saw  the  state  of 
Poland  rased  from  the  list  of  European  nations. 
What  have  been  her  subsequent  fortunes  will  be  dis- 
cussed in  the  piesent  work  ;  to  realise  what  she  was 
at  the  period  of  her  greatest  prosperity,  we  will  take 
her  geographical  boundaries  in  the  reign  of  the 
valiant  Stephen  Batory  (i  578-1 586),  when  she  was 
the  great  power  of  Eastern  Europe.  On  the  east  she 
was  bounded  by  Russia,  on  the  west  by  what  is  nowj 
the  Austrian  Empire  and  the  Danubian  principalities, ' 
the  latter  united  in  our  own  time  under  the  name  of 
Roumania.  In  the  north  she  extended  to  the  Baltic, 
in  the  south  she  touched  the  Black  Sea  at  Akerman, 
but  towards  the  south-east  was  shut  out  by  Crim 
Tartary,  which  was  under  the  suzerainty  of  the 
Turkish  Sultan. 

The  division  of  the  Polish  palatinates  (Woje- 
wodztwa)  is  here  given  from  the  list  contributed  by 
Professor  Bobrzynski  at  the  end  of  his  second  volume 


'2''   'Tii'B  COUNTRY  AND   PEOPLE    OF  POLAND. 

(see  Dzieje  Polski  w  Zarysie^  Warsaw,   1881,  vol.  iL 

p.  363). 

The  Rzeczpospolita  or  Republic,  as  it  was  called 
by  the  inhabitants,  was  made  up  of  two  great  terri- 
tories, standing  to  each  other  in  something  like  the 
same  relation  as  Sweden  and  Norway. 

A.  The  so-called  Korona,  or  Poland,  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  term. 

I,  Great  Poland  (Wielkopolska),  which  contained 
the  following  palatinates  : 

a.  Poznan,  called  in  German  Posen,  containing  the 
city  of  Posen,  a  city  now  very  much  Germanised,  but 
dating  from  the  earliest  period  of  the  monarchy.  In 
it  many  of  the  earliest  kings  were  buried. 

b.  Kalisz.  Under  this  palatinate  was  formerly 
reckoned  the  district  (Powiat)  of  Gniezno  (Gniesen), 
but  it  was  separated  in  the  year  1768.  This  is  the 
city  from  which  the  Archbishop  of  Poland  took  his 
title.     The  archbishopric  was  founded  by  Boleslas  I. 

c.  Sieradz.  In  this  palatinate  is  situated  Piotrkow, 
where  the  diets  at  one  time  were  held. 

d.  L^czyk. 

e.  Brzesc-Kujawski. 

f.  Inowroclaw.  In  which  is  situated  the  town  of 
Bydgosd,  now  metamorphosed  by  the  Germans  into 
Bromberg. 

g.  Plock. 
//.  Rawa. 

i.  Masowsze,  called  also  Masovia,  and  by  the  Ger- 
mans Mazuren.  In  this  palatinate  is  situated  War- 
saw (Warszawa),  which  was  first  made  the  capital  of 
the  country  in  the  reign  of  Sigismund  III.     The  city 


CRACOW,  3 

IS  separated  by  the  Vistula  from  its  suburb  Praga, 
which  has  obtained  such  a  sad  historical  notoriety. 
It  abounds  with  handsome  buildings,  but  they  arc 
mostly  modern.  A  pleasant  part  is  the  Lazienki  or 
baths,  where  some  gardens  are  laid  out,  and  where  a 
former  palace  of  Stanislaus  ?oniatowski  has  been 
turned  into  a  summer  resort.  The  city  contains 
statues  of  Copernicus  and  Sigismund  III.  It  has 
not  the  interesting  historical  associations  of  Cracow. 
J.  Chelm. 

A  Malborg.  This  was  originally  the  capital  of 
the  Teutonic  knights,  and  here  they  had  a  famous 
castle.  Of  this  building  only  the  ruins  remain,  but 
they  are  very  striking.  Portions  may  still  be  seen  of 
the  great  hall  in  which  the  knights  met  to  hold  their 
chapter.  It  is  here  that  Mickiewicz  has  placed  the 
scene  of  his  remarkable  tale  in  verse,  Konrad  Wal- 
lenrod.  A  delightful  book  to  read  about  the  knights 
is  the  quaint  work  of  Christopher  Hartknoch,  AU. 
und  Neiies  Preussen,  Frankfort,  1684. 

/.  Pomorska  :  the  district  on  the  coast  in  which 
Danzig  is  situated.  Danzig,  Polish  Gdansk,  is  a  very 
ancient  city,  of  uncertain  origin,  which  alternated 
between  the  rule  of  the  Pole  and  the  German. 

2.  Little  Poland  (Malopolska),  containing — ■ 

a.  Krakow  (Cracow).  In  this  palatinate  is  situated 
Oswi^cim,  near  which  Henri  de  Valois  was  over- 
taken by  the  Polish  emissaries  when  flying  from 
the  kingdom.  Cracow  was  the  capital  of  Poland 
till  the  reign  of  Sigismund  III.  This  city,  although 
having  now  a  somewhat  decayed  appearance  and 
only   reminding  the   traveller  in  a   melancholy  way 


4  THE   COUNTRY  AND   PEOPLE   OF  POLAND. 

of  its  former  grandeur,  may  still  be  called  one  of 
the  most  interesting  and  picturesque  in  Europe. 
The  old  castle,  once  the  residence  of  the  king  and 
the  scene  of  so  many  historical  events,  has  now 
been  turned  into  a  barracks  for  Austrian  soldiers. 
The  imagination  of  the  reader  of  history  will  be 
kindled  on  seeing  it  by  recollections  of  the  glories  of 
Casimir  III.,  and  of  the  two  Sigismunds,  father  and 
son  ;  of  the  strange  adventures  of  the  timid  Henri  de 
Valois  flying  in  such  undignified  haste  from  his  capital, 
and  the  brave  Stephen  Batory,  whose  voice  of  power 
was  heard  within  the  walls.  The  following  picturesque 
description  of  this  castle  was  given  by  the  old  French 
traveller  Le  Laboureur,  who  visited  the  city  in  1646, 
and  wrote  a  work  entitled,  Traite  siir  la  Pologne: 
*'  Le  chasteau  est  une  piece  d'architecture  aussi 
accomplic  que  Ton  puisse  voir,  et  tres  digne  de  la 
majeste  d'un  monarque  puissant.  II  a  beaucoup  de 
rapport  au  dessin  du  chasteau  Saint-Ange  de  Rome  ; 
et  me  semble  plus  esgaye,  mais  il  a  moins  d'estendue. 
C'est  un  grand  corps  de  logis,  de  pierre  de  taille,  avec 
deux  aisles,  autour  d'une  cour  quarree,  decoree  de 
trois  galeries  ou  se  degagent  tous  les  apartements. 
Ces  galeries  sont,  comme  les  chambres,  parquetees  de 
carreaux  de  marbre  blanc  et  noir  en  rapport ;  ellcs 
sont  decorees,  de  peintures  et  de  bustes  de  Cesars  et 
rien  ne  se  pent  esgaler  a  la  beaute  des  lambris  des 
chambres  du  second  etage,  qui  est  le  logement  des 
roys  et  des  reynes.  C'est  veritablement  la  plus  belle 
chose  que  j'ai  veue  pour  la  delicatesse  de  la  sculpture 
et  pour  les  ornements  d'or  moulu  et  de  cou'eurs  tres 
fines.     Dans  la  chambre  principale  sont  les  trophee? 


CRACOW,  5 

du  roySigismond  avec  millepatergnes  et  mille  enjoHve- 
ments  au  ciseau  qui  sont  admirables  d'ou  pendent  en 
Tair  plusieurs  aigles  d'argent  qui  sont  les  armes  de  la 
Pologne,  que  la  moindre  haleine  de  vent  fait  voltiger 
doucement  leur  donnant  une  espece  de  vie  et  de 
mouvement  si  naturel,  que  I'imagination  en  est  aussi- 
tost  persuadee  que  les  yeux." 

At  a  little  distance  from  the  castle  is  the  cathedral, 
in  which  the  Polish  kings  were  always  crowned  and 
in  which  the  greater  number  of  them  lie  buried.  A 
modest  building  stood  on  this  site  in  the  earliest  days 
of  the  kingdom,  but  the  splendour  of  the  cathedral 
dates  from  the  reign  of  Casimir  III.,  who,  in  1359, 
greatly  embellished  it.  It  contains  many  chapels. 
Some  of  the  earlier  Polish  kings  were  buried  at 
Posen ;  the  first  monument  to  a  sovereign  in  the 
cathedral  of  Cracow  is  that  to  Ladislaus  Lokietek, 
who  died  in  1333.  The  last  king  of  Poland,  Stanis- 
laus Poniatovvski,  was  not  buried  here  ;  he  lies  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  church  at  St.  Petersburg.  Casimir 
the  Great  has  a  splendid  tomb.  The  monument  of 
Sobieski  is  in  red  marble,  sculptured  with  figures  of 
kneeling  Turks.  The  visitor  is  allowed  to  descend 
into  the  crypts  and  to  see  the  actual  coffins  of 
the  kings.  Besides  the  cathedral  there  are  many 
churches  in  Cracow  of  considerable  architectural 
beauty.  That  of  St.  Catherine  has  recently  been 
restored.  A  very  interesting  building  is  the  Jagiello 
Library  with  its  quaint  quadrangle.  It  contains  a  fine 
collection  of  books  and  many  of  the  rarest  treasures 
of  the  Polish  press.  Especially  interesting  are  the 
early  editions  of  the  native  authors.     In  an  album 


6  THE   COUNTRY   AND    PEOPLE    OF   POLAND. 

preserved  in  the  library  with  the  names  of  visitors 
inserted  may  been  seen  the  autograph  of  Henri  de 
Valois,  Marina  Mniszek,  the  bride  of  the  false  Deme- 
trius,  and    that  of  Anna    Jagiellonka,    the   wife   of 


THE  JAGIELLO   LIBRARY   AT  CRACOW. 


Stephen  Batory.  Among  the  old  monuments  of  the 
city  may  also  be  mentioned  the  Florian  Gate,  of  the 
date  of  1498,  the  only  one  of  the  gates  still  remain- 
ing. Close  by  is  the  Museum  of  Prince  Ladislaus 
Czartoryski,  containing  some  of  the  most  interesting 


LEMBERG.  7 

reliques  of  old  Polish  life,  portraits  and  memorials  of 
their  kings  and  chief  literary  men.  Adjoining  the 
city  of  Cracow  is  the  great  mound,  erected  by  the 
Polish  people  in  honour  of  the  hero  Kosciuszko. 

b,  Sandomir.  Of  one  of  the  districts  of  this 
palatinate  George  Mniszek,  the  father  of  Marina, 
wife  of  the  false  Demetrius,  was  castellan. 

c,  Lublin,  containing  the  city  in  which  the  com- 
plete union  of  Lithuania  and  Poland  was  carried  out. 

d,  Little  Russia  (Ruska),  in  the  Polish  and  re- 
stricted sense  of  the  term.  In  this  palatinate  is  the 
city  of  Lwow  (Lemberg),  which  will  be  frequently 
mentioned  in  our  pages.  It  is  a  handsome,  rather 
modern-looking  town,  with  a  university,  which  was 
founded  in  1784.  Of  great  importance  is  the  Osso- 
linski  Library,  which  is  exceedingly  rich  in  manuscripts 
and  early  printed  Slavonic  books.  The  Staropigiiski 
Institute  is  devoted  to  the  encouragement  of  the 
study  of  the  Ma'o-Russian  language,  and  has  issued 
some  important  works,  such  as  editions  of  old  South 
Russian  chronicles.  It  also  contains  a  good  library. 
Here  may  be  seen  many  interesting  portraits  of 
hetmans  and  other  heroes  of  Little  Russia.  The 
situation  of  Lemberg  is  very  important,  being  of  old 
time  one  of  the  great  centres  of  Poland's  trade  with 
the  East.     It  now  swarms  with  Armenians  and  Jews. 

The  palatinate  of  Little  Russia  also  included 
Halicz,  the  old  Russian  principality  of  Galich,  which 
was  annexed  by  Casimir  the  Great  in  1340. 

e,  Bielska. 

f,  Podolska. 

g,  Podlaska.     This  territory  was  formerly  occupied 


5  THE    COUNTRY  AND  PEOPLE   OF  POLAND. 

by  a  tribe  called  the  Jadzwings,  who  have  now  dis- 
appeared. It  belonged  geographically  to  Lithuania, 
but  in  the  time  of  Sigismund  I.  was  incorporated 
with  Poland  proper. 

A.  Volhynia,  originally  a  Russian  province,  after- 
wards conquered  by  Gedymin,  prince  of  Lithuania. 

i  Braclawska. 

J.  Kijowska.  Originally  a  Russian  province,  and 
taken  by  Gedymin  about  1320  ;  in  the  following 
year  we  find  a  Roman  Catholic  bishop  appointed. 
It  became  a  province  of  the  Crown  in  1569,  although 
originally  forming  part  of  Lithuania.  By  the  treaty 
of  Andruszowo,  that  part  of  it  which  lies  beyond  the 
Dnieper,  including  the  historical  city  of  Kiev,  was 
ceded  to  Russia.  Kiev  was  to  be  given  back  to 
Poland  in  two  years'  time,  but  Alexis,  the  Russian 
Emperor,  kept  it,  because  the  Poles  did  not  fulfil  the 
terms  of  the  truce.     They  finally  gave  it  up  in  1686. 

k.  Czernichowska.  Lost  to  Poland  by  the  treaty  of 
Andruszowo.  The  chief  town  is  more  familiar  to  us 
under  the  Russian  form  of  the  name,  Chernigov,  but, 
like  so  many  other  towns  which  formerly  belonged 
to  Poland,  the  accent  is  on  the  penultimate  (cf. 
Berdichev,  Zhitomir,  &c.).  Chernigov  plays  a  con- 
siderable part  in  the  adventures  of  the  false  Demetrius. 

B.  Litwa  (Lithuania).  The  second  great  division 
of  the  country  consisted  of  the  following  palati- 
nates : — 

a.  Wilenska.  Wilno  or  Vilna,  the  old  capital  of  the 
Lithuanian  princes.  This  city  is  situated  on  the  banks 
of  the  rivers  Wilia  and  Wilejka  ;  it  was  founded  by 
Gedymin    in    1322,  when    a   castle   was  built  and  a 


BREST-LITOVSK.  -         9 

temple  to  preserve  the  sacred  fire  ;  the  ruins  of  these 
buildings  may  still  be  seen.  The  walls  are  as  old 
as  the  year  1506.  The  city  contains  many  churches, 
and  from  1578  to  1833  was  possessed  of  a  university, 
founded  by  Stephen  Batory,  which  was  under  the 
care  of  the  Jesuits. 
d.  Trocka, 

c.  Zmudska.  To  this  province  belong  the  Samo- 
gitians,  who  speak  a  dialect  of  Lithuanian,  in  which 
there  is  a  version  of  the  Bible. 

d.  Nowogrodska.  Part  of  this  territory  was  Polish, 
but  the  city  of  Novgorod  belonged  to  Russia,  and 
was  annexed  by  Ivan  III.  to  the  growing  principality 
of  Moscow  as  early  as  1478. 

e.  Brzesko-litewska.  The  city  of  Bres(^-litewsk  was 
long  an  object  of  contention  between  the  princes  of 
Lithuania  and  Red  Russia.  Here,  in  1595,  the  union 
between  the  Orthodox  Christians  and  the  Latin 
Church  was  established,  and  hence  arose  the  sect  of 
the  Uniates.  At  the  present  time  Brest-litovsk,  as  it 
is  called  (to  adopt  the  Russian  form  of  its  name),  is 
one  of  the  most  strongly  fortified  towns  on  the 
western  frontier  of  Russia. 

/.  Minska.  At  first  a  Russian  principality,  then 
acquired  by  Lithuania  at  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century  ;  it  became  Russian  again  in  1795. 

^.  Polotska.  Also  originally  a  Russian  province, 
acquired  for  Lithuania  by  Olgerd. 

/i.  Mscislawska.  Originally  Russian,  acquired  by 
Lithuania  during  the  troublous  times  of  the  Mongol 
occupation,  as  was  the  case  with  the  other  White 
Russian  principalities. 


ID       THE   COUNTRY    AND    PEOPLE   OF   POLAND. 

i.  Smolenska.  Originally  Russian,  gained  by 
Witold,  the  Lithuanian  prince,  in  1403.  Smolensk, 
the  chief  town,  has  always  been  of  great  strategic 
importance  on  account  of  its  situation  on  the  Dnieper. 
It  is  the  key  to  the  upper  course  of  this  river  and  to 
all  the  great  roads  which  diverge  upon  the  centre  of 
the  Russian  Empire.  In  the  reign  of  the  Tsar  Basil, 
the  vigorous  son  of  a  vigorous  father,  Ivan  III.,  the 
Russians  got  back  Smolensk  (15 1 3),  although  in  the 
following  year  they  suffered  a  severe  repulse  from 
the  Poles  at  Orsha  close  by.  Sigismund  III.,  avail- 
ing himself  of  the  confusion  of  the  smutnoye  vremya^ 
or  time  of  troubles,  as  it  is  called,  recovered  it  for 
Poland  in  161 3.  The  treaty  of  Andruszowo  saw  this 
city  transferred  to  Russia  for  ever.  Its  ancient  walls 
are  still  an  object  of  interest  to  the  traveller,  and 
have  been  recently  repaired. 

j.  Inflancka,  or  Livonia,  formerly  belonging  to  the 
sword -bearing  knights,  who  were  merged  into  the 
Teutonic  knights  in  1237  ;  it  was  acquired  by  Poland 
in  the  year  1561.  The  Swedes  gained  possession  of 
It  in  the  time  of  Sigismund  III.,  and  only  a  portion 
was  got  back  from  them  in  1660.  Peter  the  Great 
acquired  the  Swedish  portion  of  Livonia  at  the  treaty 
of  Nystadt  in  1718. 

Of  the  provinces  which  acknowledged  the  suzerainty 
of  Poland,  we  have  Eastern  Prussia  released  by  Poland 
from  its  claims  in  the  year  1657,  and  the  principality 
of  Courland  in  the  year  1561.  The  latter  duchy  was 
hereditary  in  the  Kettler  family,  the  last  of  whom 
died  childless  at  Danzig  in  1737  ;  he  had  succeeded 
his  nephew,  who  married  Anne  of  Russia,  daughter 


THE    VISTULA.  II 

of  Ivan,  the  elder  brother  of  Peter  the  Great.  When 
she  became  empress,  Anne  used  her  influence  to 
procure  the  election  of  her  favourite,  Biren. 

As  regards  the  physical  geography  of  I'oland,  the 
country  was,  as,  indeed,  its  name  implies,  a  vast 
plain,  mostly  included  in  the  great  central  depression 
of  Europe.  It  had  hardly  any  natural  frontiers,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Baltic  on  the  north,  and  the 
Carpathians  in  the  south  ;  from  the  Black  Sea  it  was 
excluded  by  the  Tatars  and  Turks.  Its  great  arterial 
river  was  the  Vistula  (Pol.  Wisla),  which  rises  in 
the  Carpathians,  passes  Cracow,  Sandomir,  War- 
saw, Block,  Thorn  (Torun),  and  divides  into  two 
arms — the  right,  called  the  Nogat,  passes  Elbl^g 
(Elbing),  and  empties  itself  into  the  Kurisches  Haf; 
the  left  passes  Danzig,  and  has  its  outlet  near  the 
fort  of  Weichselmlinde.  We  thus  see  that  the  basin 
of  the  Vistula  formed  the  centre  of  the  kingdom  of 
Poland.  The  river  has  been  shared  between  the 
three  powers  who  dismembered  the  country — the 
part  near  its  source  belongs  to  Austria,  the  centre  to 
Russia,  and  the  lower  portion  to  Prussia.  The  only 
mountains  of  importance  are  the  Carpathians,  which 
separate  Poland  from  Hungary. 

The  greatest  length  of  the  country  from  north  to 
south  was  713  English  miles,  and  from  east  to  west 
693  miles ;  it  embraced  an  area  of  about  282,000 
English  square  miles,  and  this  area  in  1880  had  a 
population  of  24,000,000.  There  is  good  pasture  and 
arable  land,  but  there  are  also  barren  tracts,  consist- 
ing of  sand  and  swamp,  especially  in  the  eastern 
parts  of  the  country.     Wheat,  barley,  rye,  and  other 


12       THE    COUNTRY   AND   PEOPLE    OF   POLAND. 

cereals  are  produced.  There  are  some  small  iron, 
copper,  and  lead  mines,  and  the  vast  salt  mines  of 
Wieliczka,  near  Cracow.  The  population  of  the 
former  kingdom  of  Poland  contained  members  of  the 
following  races : — 

I.  Aryan. 

a.  The  Poles,  forming  the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country,  among  whom  must  be  numbered 
the  Kashubes,  now  amounting  to  about  110,000, 
living  on  the  coast  of  the  Baltic  near  Danzig.  They 
are  chiefly  engaged  in  fishing.  The  Poles,  according 
to  the  calculations  accompanying  the  ethnological 
map  of  Mirkovich  (1877),  amount  to  4,633,378  in  the 
Russian  Empire,  2,404,458  (exclusive  of  Kashubes) 
in  Prussia,  and  2,444,200  in  Austria.  Besides  these 
there  are  10,000  in  Turkey.  These  figures  give  a 
gross  total  of  9,492,036,  and  with  the  addition  of  the 
Kashubes,  9,602,036.  It  is  somewhat  difficult  to 
obtain  the  figures  exactly,  as  some  Polish  writers, 
from  motives  of  patriotism,  augment  the  numbers, 
adding  many  who  are  really  Malo-Russians. 

The  Poles  belong  to  the  western  branch  of  the 
Slavonic  race,  as  their  language  shows.  It  is  a 
vigorous  tongue,  and  has  preserved  some  peculiar 
characteristics  of  Palaeo- Slavonic,  now  lost,  or  only 
partially  represented  by  her  eldest  surviving  daughter, 
the  Church  Slavoniq,  Among  these  peculiarities  are 
the  two  nasals,  g.  and  <^,  the  first  pronounced  as  in 
the  French  boUy  the  second  as  in  fin.  The  existence 
of  these  nasals  in  the  Church  Slavonic  was  first 
proved  by  the  Russian  scholar,  Vostokov.  The 
Polish    language    is     somewhat    disfigured    by    the 


THE   POLISH   LANGUAGE.  I3 

German  words  which  have  crept  in.  Many  Latinisms 
were  also  introduced  by  the  macaronic  tendencies  of 
the  Jesuits.  But  the  poet  Casimir  Rrodzinski  has 
truly  and  forcibly  expressed  himself  about  his  native 
language  when  he  says,  "  Let  the  Pole  smile  with 
manly  pride  when  the  inhabitant  of  the  banks  of 
the  Tiber  or  Seine  calls  his  language  rude  ;  let  him 
hear  with  keen  satisfaction  and  the  dignity  of  a  judge 
the  stranger  who  painfully  struggles  with  the  Polish 
pronunciation  like  a  Sybarite  trying  to  lift  an  old 
Roman  coat  of  armour,  or  when  he  strives  to  articu- 
late the  language  of  men  with  the  weak  accent  of 
children.  So  long  as  courage  is  not  lost  in  our 
nation,  while  our  manners  have  not  become  degraded, 
let  us  not  disavow  this  manly  roughness  of  our 
language,  it  has  its  harmony,  its  melody,  but  it  is 
the  murmur  of  an  oak  of  three  hundred  years,  and 
not  the  plaintive  and  feeble  cry  of  a  reed,  swayed  by 
every  wind." 

The  language  of  the  Kashubes  differs  in  some 
interesting  points  from  the  Polish,  having  a  fluctuating 
accent  (whereas  that  of  the  Polish  language  is  almost 
always  on  the  penultimate)  and  more  nasal  sound.s. 
A  grammar  has  been  published  by  Dr.  F'lorian 
Ccnoya,  and  also  a  dictionary  by  X.  G.  Poblocki 
(Chelmno,  1887),  but  a  more  copious  and  accurate 
vocabulary  has  appeared  in  the  pages  of  the  philo- 
logical review,  Prace  Filologiczne.  Their  literature 
consists  of  only  a  few  songs. 

/;.  The  Malo-  or  Red  Russians.  These  belong  to 
the  Eastern  branch  of  the  Slavonic  family.  At  the 
present  time  they  number  in   Austrian  Galicia    and 


14       THE  COUNTRY  AND   PEOPLE   OF  POLAND. 

the  Bukovina,  including  the  Guzules  and  Boiki, 
about  2,149,000,  and  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
kingdom  of  Hungary  625,000  ;  in  the  Russian 
Empire,  10,370,000.  The  language  spoken  by  the 
Malo- Russians  is  essentially  the  same  as  that  spoken 
by  the  Red  Russians,  the  latter,  however,  has  a  few 
dialectic  peculiarities.  They  were  never  in  very 
pleasant  relations  with  their  Polish  masters,  especially 
the  Cossack  portion  of  them  ;  hence  the  continued 
fighting  and  the  final  transfer  of  their  allegiance 
to  the  Emperor  Alexis.  We  have  a  recrudescence 
of  these  troubles  in  the  horrible  excesses  committed 
by  Gonta  and  Zhelieznikov  upon  the  Poles  and  Jews 
at  Human. 

The  songs  of  the  Russians  of  Galicia  have  been 
collected  by  Golovatski  (Moscow,  1878).  A  poet 
of  some  note  among  them  who  used  the  Guzule 
dialect  was  Yuri  Godinski,  who  wrote  under  the 
name  of  Joseph  Fedkovich.  He  was  born  in  the 
Bukovina,  and  died  at  Czernowitz  in  1889. 

c.  The  White  Russians,  inhabiting  the  governments 
of  Minsk,  Grodno,  &c.  These  formed  the  most 
civilised  element  of  the  strange  Lithuanian  princi- 
pality ;  in  their  language  have  come  down  such  legal 
documents  as  the  Poles  issued  to  their  Lithuanian 
subjects,  e.^.,  those  of  Wladyslaw  H.  in  1420-1423, 
that  of  Casimir  given  in  1468,  and  the  so-called 
Lithuanian  statute  of  1529.  Of  this  dialect  there 
is  a  grammar  by  Karski  and  a  dictionary  by 
Nosovich. 

d  The  Lithuanians,  Letts,  and  Samogitians,  amount 
to  about  3,000,000.     Of  these,  the  Lithuanians  and 


THE  LITHUANIANS,  15 

Samogitians  now  occupy  the  Russian  governments  of 
Kovno,  Grodno,  and  part  of  Wilno.  They  also  ex- 
tend over  a  small  strip  of  Prussia  bordering  upon  the 
Kurisches  Haf.  The  Letts  occupy  the  whole  duchy 
of  Courland,  with  the  exception  of  those  portions  held 
by  German  settlers.  An  interesting  work  on  the  folk- 
lore of  the  Letts  has  been  recently  published  by  E. 
Welter  (St.  Petersburg,  1890). 

The  history  of  the  Lithuanians  is  legendary  till  the 
days  of  Mindovg,  who  was  crowned  prince  in  1252. 
His  son  Gedymin  proved  a  powerful  sovereign 
(13 1 5-1 340).  He  got  possession  of  Kiev  in  1320. 
Many  of  the  western  Russian  provinces  fell  into  his 
power,  and  he  seems  to  have  made  some  of  his  sons 
rulers  over  them.  At  all  events,  he  organised  a 
powerful  Lithuanian  state.  He  died  at  an  advanced 
age  in  the  city  of  Wilno,  which  he  had  founded.  Of 
the  union  between  Poland  and  Lithuania  we  shall 
speak  in  the  course  of  our  narrative.  This  union, 
made  at  the  time  of  the  marriage  of  Jagiello  and 
Jadwiga,  was  strengthened  at  Lublin,  after  which 
Warsaw  was  chosen  as  the  capital.  But  it  took  a  long 
time  to  thoroughly  Polonise  Lithuania.  The  bulk  of 
her  people  remained  for  many  years  adherents  of  the 
Greek  Church,  and  the  feeling  of  patriotism  was 
strong  in  the  families  of  Radziwill,  Chodkiewicz,  and 
others.  Constant  tendencies  to  independence  were 
conspicuous.  On  the  death  of  Sigismund  Augustus 
the  Lithuanian  national  party  wished  to  put  an  inde- 
pendent prince  upon  the  throne.  Frequently  during 
an  interregnum  the  Lithuanians  were  desirous  of 
having   the   Russian    tsar   for   their   ruler.      In   the 


1 6       THE    COUNTRY   AND   PEOPLE   OF   POLAND. 

negotiations  with  the  Poles  which  took  place  on  the 
death  of  Sigismund  Augustus,  the  Lithuanian  senate 
was  eager  for  the  restoration  of  Volhynia,  Kiev,  and 
other  territories,  so  that  Lithuania  should  not  be 
described  as  a  part  of  Poland.  On  the  death  of 
Batory  some  of  the  Lithuanian  magnates  again 
wished  to  elect  the  Russian  tsar.  This  is  proved 
by  documents  preserved  in  the  archives  of  Prince 
Czartoryski,  from  which  the  late  Professor  Perwolf 
made  extracts.  Sigismund  III.,  among  the  terms 
offered  to  the  False  Demetrius  in  1605,  required  that 
he  should  bring  about  the  perpetual  union  of  the 
states,  2mi0  zvieczng,  Panstiv.  As  yet  so  many  of  the 
people  were  of  the  Orthodox  faith  that  their  luke- 
warm feeling  to  their  Catholic  neighbours  can  be 
explained.  Moreover,  the  bulk  of  them  spoke  White 
or  Malo-Russian.  These  languages  continued  in  use 
in  judicial  proceedings  as  late  as  the  year  1697.  The 
Litliuanian  statute  remained  throughout  in  full  force. 
[See  Professor  Daskevich,  Zamietki  po  istorii  Litov- 
skoriisskago  gosiidarstva^  "  Remarks  on  the  History 
of  the  Lithuano- Russian  State,"  Kiev,  1885.J 

e.  The  Germans,  who  arrived  in  the  country  as  early 
as  the  thirteenth  century.  They  formed  for  the  most 
part  the  burghers  of  the  cities.  They  amounted  to 
about  two  millions.  They  early  obtained  great 
influence  in  the  country,  and  we  are  told  of  one  of 
the  Polish  kings,  Leszek  the  Black,  that  he  especially 
affected  their  habits,  dressing  like  a  German  and  wear- 
ing his  hair  after  their  fashion. 

f.  The  Armenians,  who  came  early  into  Poland 
for   the    purposes   of  trade  ;    v/e    find    them    settled 


THE    URGO-FINNISH   RACE.  I7 

already  in  the  thirteenth  century.  For  a  lon^  time 
they  preserved  their  devotion  to  the  Orthodox  faith, 
but  after  1626  many  were  converted  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Uniates.  Kromer  thus  speaks  of  them,  "  Ai'- 
7?te7tii  sjiis  ritibus,  suaque  lingua  in  sacris  utuntur. 
Non  abhorrent  ii  tamen^  siciit  accepimns,  a  Romana 
ecclesia  et  Romano  pontifice  ;  qiiin  principatum 
ejus  in  universa  Christi  ecclesia  agnoscunt!'  Their 
descendants  are  to  be  found  in  great  numbers  in 
GaHcia,  vi^here  in  some  parts  an  Armenian  dialect 
is  still  spoken.  It  formed  the  subject  of  a  learned 
treatise  by  the  young  scholar  Hanusz,  who  was  too 
soon  lost  to  the  Slavonic  world. 

2.  Ugro- Finnish.  Of  this  race  the  only  inhabi- 
tants in  Poland  were  the  Esthonians  in  the  Baltic 
provinces.  Their  literature  is  exceedingly  scanty. 
Till  quite  recently  the  earliest  specimens  known 
were  contained  in  some  poems  written  to  celebrate 
two  marriages  by  a  certain  Reiner  Brocmann  of  the 
years  1634,  1638,  to  which  a  third  may  be  added 
composed  by  Joachim  Saleman  in  165 1  ;  but  lately 
there  has  been  a  discovery  of  several  sermons  in  the 
Esthonian  language,  preserved  among  the  archives 
of  the  city  of  Revel.  These  carry  the  literature  back 
to  quite  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
(see  Sitzungsberichte  der  geleJirten  Estnischeft  gesell- 
schaft  zu  Dorpat,  1891).  Moreover,  the  Esthonians, 
like  their  brothers  the  Finns,  were  destined  to  have 
a  national  epic.  From  the  letters  of  Dr.  Kreutzwald, 
the  literary  father  of  the  so-called  Kalewipoeg,  we 
see  that  this  epic  was  pieced  together  from  fragments 
of  genuine  popular  poetry,  very  much  in   the  same 

3 


1 8       THE   COUNTRY   AND   PEOPLE   OF  POLAND. 

way  as  Macpherson  composed  his  Ossian.  The 
same  process  seems  to  have  been  carried  on,  more 
or  less,  in  the  case  of  the  more  famous  Kalevvala. 
It  is  somewhat  curious  that  Kreutzwald  himself 
should  have  recognised  the  suspicious  character  of 
this  so-called  epic  in  many  respects.  He  was  better 
able  to  do  so  because  he  was  himself  no  mean  adept 
in  the  art  of  such  compositions.  In  one  of  his  letters 
he  speaks  of  the  Kalewala  as  resembling  Ossian  : 
"  Einzelnes  mag  fur  Volkpoesie  gelten,  aber  selbst  tritt 
eine  nachhelfende  Hand  vor,  zvdJirend  andei^e  Stellen 
aufstossen,  die  offenbar^  frentdes  Element  enthalten " 
(see  Verhandlungen  der  Estnischen  gesellschaft  zu  Dor- 
pat,  1 891). 

3.  The  Semitic.  The  Jews  came  into  Poland  in 
very  early  times  ;~  they  carried  on  a  great  part  of  the 
trade  of  the  country.  In  all  probability  the  oldest 
Jewish  immigrants  reached  Poland  from  the  countries 
on  the  Lower  Danube  and  from  the  kingdom  of  the 
Khazars,  who  had  accepted  the  Hebrew  faith.  The 
introduction  of  the  Jews  into  the  national  sagas  and 
the  legends  of  the  Church  shows  that  they  were  very 
numerous  and  not  without  influence  on  the  country. 
At  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  another  stream 
of  Jewish  immigrants  came  from  Germany.  In  the 
year  1264  Boleslas  the  Pious  granted  them  certain 
privileges.  At  first  these  advantages  were  only  con- 
ceded to  the  Jews  of  Great  Poland,  but  they  were 
extended  in  1334  by  Casimir  the  Great,  who  was 
probably  in  want  of  money.  Some  think  that  the 
Jewish  statute  enacted  by  this  monarch  was  suggested 
by  a  privilege  granted  by  Frederick,  Duke  of  Austria, 


THE  yEWS. 


19 


in  1244,  which  was  frequently  imitated  afterwards.  It 
is  computed  that  the  number  of  Jews  in  the  countries 
which  once  formed  Poland  amounted  to  2,200,000. 
They  have  never  become  assimilated,  and  they  use 
German  instead  of  the  Polish  language. 


II. 


THE   SAGAS   OF   EARLY   POLISH   HISTORY. 


For  our  knowledge  of  early  Poland  and  its  people 
we  have  only  a  confused  mass  of  legends.  Since 
these  stories  have  been  examined  critically,  historians 
are  agreed  in  regarding  everything  as  more  or  less 
fabulous  till  we  come  to  the  reign  of  Micczyslaw  I. 
(962-992).  The  first  Polish  chroniclers,  Gallus,  Kad- 
lubek,  Dlugosz,  and  Kromer,  who  were  ecclesiastics 
and  used  the  Latin  language  as  their  literary  medium, 
handling  it  with  considerable  dexterity,  have  treated 
these  stories  as  genuine  history.  The  more  sober 
criticism  of  modern  times,  as  shown  in  the  writings 
of  Lelewcl  and  others,  has  relegated  them  to  their 
proper  place.  We  are  hardly  likely  to  believe  in  the 
existence  of  a  Duke  Lech  or  a  beautiful  princess 
named  Wanda,  who  flourished  in  the  eighth  century  : 
or  in  Cracus,  said  to  have  been  the  founder  of 
Cracow.  All  these  are  obviously  only  generic  and 
national  names  individualised.  Many  of  the  quaint 
stories  about  these  princes  have  done  duty  in  the 
legendary  history  of  other  countries.  They  recall  to 
us  Tarquin  and  the  poppies  ;  Zopyrus  and  Babylon  ; 
Tell  and  the  apple  ;  and  other  quaint  traditions  which 


LESZEK.  21 

may  be  claimed  by  so  many  lands.  Thus  the 
mythical  hero,  Przemyslas  (Przemyslaw),  forms  clay 
figures  of  men  with  lances,  swords,  and  bucklers  ; 
the  rays  of  the  sun  are  reflected  upon  them,  and  the 
Hungarians,  with  whom  he  was  contending,  scared  at 
the  sight  of  these  imaginary  soldiers,  beat  a  pre- 
cipitate retreat.  The  same  story  is  told  in  Kent 
of  the  invasion  of  William  the  Conqueror.  So  also 
with  reference  to  the  horse-race,  in  which  the  crown 
was  to  be  the  prize  of  the  victorious  candidate.  It 
is  an  old  story  of  classical  times.  Lescus  (Leszek) 
was  of  humble  origin,  became  an  excellent  prince,  and 
loved  to  gaze  upon  his  former  ragged  habih'ments, 
which  were  preserved,  that  he  might  be  reminded  of 
the  lowly  estate  from  which  he  had  been  called.  In 
the  same  way  the  shoes  of  the  peasant  Premysl^  the 
husband  of  Libusa,  are  said  to  have  been  long,  pre- 
served in  the  Hradschin  at  Prague  ;  one  of  the  many 
points  of  identity  between  the  Chekh  and  Polish 
legends. 

Leszek  was  succeeded  by  his  son  of  the  same  name, 
of  whom  in  defiance  of  all  chronology,  Vincent 
Kadlubek  tells  us  that  he  overcame  Julius  Caesar  in 
three  battles,  and  received  his  sister  Julia  in  marriage, 
and  that  he  also  subdued  Crassus,  king  of  the  Par- 
thians  (!).  We  thus  see  Polish  history  rivalling  the 
most  absurd  fictions  of  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  story  of  Popiel  and  the  rats. 
This  duke  was  a  vicious  man  and  had  become,  so 
the  legend  goes,  so  hateful  to  the  whole  nation  that 
a  conspiracy  was  formed  against  him,  headed  by  his 
uncles.     This  he  discovered,  but  concealing  the  infor- 


22        THE   SAGAS   OF  EARLY   POLISH   HISTORY. 

mation  he  had  received,  invited  them  lo  an  entertain- 
ment and  caused  them  to  be  poisoned.  Moreover,  he 
refused  to  allow  their  bodies  to  be  buried,  and  from 
the  corpses  sprang  rats  in  countless  numbers,  which 
destroyed  Popiel  and  all  his  family.  This  is  a  variant 
of  the  well-known  legend  of  Bishop  Hatto,  which 
Southey  has  versified  in  so  spirited  a  manner. 
Equally  legendary  is  the  account  of  the  holy  peasants, 
the  parents  of  Piast  ;  the  visit  of  the  gods  to  their 
humble  cabin  ;  their  constantly  replenished  store,  and 
the  ultimate  election  of  their  son  to  the  sovereignty. 
Whatever  may  have  been  their  origin  and  the  amount 
of  truth  contained  in  this  strange  story,  it  is  matter 
of  history  that  the  Piasts  ruled  the  country  not  less 
than  six  hundred  and  thirty  years.  The  date  fixed 
for  their  half-mythical  ancestor  is  842,  but  we  cannot 
say  any  more  with  confidence  than  that  the  Piasts 
first  came  to  power  at  some  time  during  the  ninth 
century. 

Now  that  we  have  dealt  in  a  somewhat  summary 
fashion  with  these  sagas,  before  we  begin  with  the 
real  historical  period,  the  reign  of  Mieczyslaw  I.,  a 
few  words  may  be  said  as  to  what  philologists  and 
ethnologists  have  been  able  to  discover  of  the  origin 
of  the  Poles. 

There  seems  reason  to  believe  with  Schafarik  that 
their  name  is  found  in  that  of  the  Bulanes,  who  are 
mentioned  by  the  geographer  Ptolemy,  who  lived  in 
the  second  century  A.D.  The  name  implies  the 
dwellers  of  the  plains  (pole,  a  field)  ;  we  can  see  by 
the  map  that  Poland  is  a  flat  country.  In  its  more 
fertile   parts    it    reminds   us    of    our    own    midland 


THE   LEKHS.  23 

counties,  but  we  rarely  come  upon  the  bolder  features 
of  nature.  Jordanes  (A.D.  552)  speaks  of  Slavs  as 
inhabiting  the  banks  of  the  Vistula,  but  he  has  no 
distinct  name  for  them.  In  the  sixth  or  seventh 
centuries  some  people  settled  on  that  river  are  called 
Lekhs,  a  word  which  has  never  been  satisfactorily 
explained.  The  older  form  probably  had  a  nasal  : 
hence  we  get  in  the  Latin  chroniclers  Lenchitce,  in 
Lithuanian,  Lenkas,  and  in  Magyar,  Lengyel.  The 
name  Lekh  gradually  made  way  for  that  of  Poliane 
or  Polaki.  Nestor,  the  old  Russian  chronicler,  or  at 
all  events  the  chronicle  which  goes  under  his  name, 
speaks  of  the  Poliane  Liakhove  on  the  Vistula  and  the 
Poliane  Rusove  on  the  Dnieper.  When  we  first 
become  acquainted  with  the  Poles  we  see  them  living 
in  their  village  communities,  a  purely  agricultural 
people.  They  are  found  grouped  about  Gniezno, 
Kruszwica,  and  Cracow. 

We  can  only  make  a  passing  allusion  to  the  view 
of  Szajnocha  that  the  organisation  of  the  Polish  race, 
began  like  the  Russian,  from  colonies  of  Norse 
settlers.  He  endeavoured  to  support  this  opinion  by 
the  interpretation  of  some  of  the  names,  but  is  not 
considered  to  have  succeeded,  although  few  persons 
at  the  present  time  would  deny  its  truth  in  the  case 
of  the  Russians.  Here  and  there  in  the  old  Polish 
stories,  as  in  the  Russian,  we  seem  to  come  upon 
versions  of  Scandinavian  sagas,  but  by  far  the  greater 
portion  of  them  can  be  shown  to  be  replicas  of  old 
Bohemian  legend  ;  thus  Cracus  reminds  us  of  Krok 
and  Premysl  of  his  Bohemian  namesake,  and  we  find 
many  similar  instances  in  the  pages  of  Cosmas,  the 


^4        THE   SAGAS    OF   EARLY   POLISH  HISTORY. 

old  Bohemian  chronicler.  The  parallel  is  further 
strengthened  when  we  see  tha^  so  much  of  the  earliest 
Polish  literature  which  has  come  down  to  us  is 
modelled  upon  that  of  the  Chekhs  ;  thus  the  Polish 
hymn  to  the  Virgin  has  its  Bohemian  prototype,  and 
the  early  Polish  translations  of  the  Bible  were  modelled 
upon  Bohemian. 


III. 


THE  RISE  OF  POIJSH  NATIONALITY.  FROM  THE 
REIGN  OF  MIECZYSLAW  I.  (962)  TO  THE  DEATH 
OF   BOLESLAS   THE   BRAVE   (1026). 

The  first  undoubted  historical  event  in  which 
Poland  is  concerned  relates  to  the  year  963,  when  in 
the  time  of  the  German  Emperor  Otho  I.  the  Mark- 


SEAL  OF   MIESZKO   THE  ELDER. 


graf  Geron  conquered  the  heathen  prince  Mieczyslaw 
or  Mieszko,  to  use  the  abridged  form  of  his  name  by 
which  he  is  frequently  mentioned,  who  ruled  over  the 


26  THE   RISE   OF  POLISH   NATIONALITY. 

Poles  in  the  country  on  the  Warta  from  the  Oder  to 
the  Vistula,  and  made  him  pay  tribute  to  the  emperor. 
In  965  we  are  told  that  Mieczyslaw  became  a  Chris- 
tian, in  order  to  gain  the  hand  of  D^brovvka,  the 
daughter  of  Boleslas,  the  King  of  Bohemia.  By 
these  means  he  consolidated  the  power  of  the  Sla- 
vonic tribes  against  the  ever-increasing  encroachments 
of  the  Germans.  The  form  of  Christianity  received 
was  the  Latin,  and  thus  Poland  is  at  the  outset  in 
contrast  to  Russia,  whose  civilisation  was  Greek  and 
Byzantine.  According  to  some  writers,  traces  of  an 
early  Greek  Christianity  were  originally  to  be  found 
in  Poland.  Mieczyslaw  succeeded  in  bringing  his 
subjects  over  to  the  faith  which  he  had  adopted,  with 
the  assistance  of  St.  Adalbert,  the  bishop  of  Prague. 
In  977  Dg.browka  died,  and  in  982  he  married  Oda, 
the  daughter  of  a  German  Markgraf  Mieczyslaw 
acknowledged  himself  the  feudatory  of  Otho,  the 
German  Emperor,  and,  dying  at  Posen,  was  buried 
there,  aged  sixty-one.  In  that  city,  in  968,  he  had 
founded  a  bishopric,  which  was  considered  dependent 
upon  that  of  Magdeburg.  The  first  bishop  was 
Jordan. 

Mieczyslaw  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Boleslas 
(Boleslaw),  surnamed  the  Brave,  or  the  Great  (992- 
1026).  Otho  III.,  of  Germany,  visited  this  prince 
and  raised  his  duchy  into  a  kingdom.  The  splendour 
of  the  ceremonies  attending  their  meeting  is  fully 
described  by  the  Polish  chroniclers.  It  is  thus  that 
Kromer  narrates  the  circumstances  :  Otho  was  re- 
ceived by  Boleslas  and  treated  together  with  all 
his   attendants    with    more   than   regal  magnificence 


OTHO   III.   AND   BOLESLAS.  2/ 

and  liberality,  and  presented  with  splendid  gifts,  an 
abacus  (counting  board),  and  all  the  gold  and  silver 
plate  on  the  table,  a  new  service  of  which  was  brought 
out  each  day.  He  also  gave  him  valuable  curtains 
and  robes.  Whereupon  the  Emperor,  wishing  to  con- 
fer equal  favours  upon  his  host  and  friend,  after  a 
conference  with  his  councillors  who  accompanied 
him,  addressed  him  as  king  and  ally  and  friend  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  free  from  all  tribute  and  imperial 
jurisdiction.  Moreover,  he  placed  the  diadem  upon 
him,  Gaudentius,  the  archbishop  presiding  at  the 
ceremony  ;  and  he  declared  that  the  honours  of  a 
king  should  remain  to  him  and  his  posterity  reigning  in 
Poland.  To  these,  he  added,  as  the  gift  of  a  guest  the 
lance  of  St.  Maurice,  which  may  still  be  seen  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Cracow,  where  is  the  bishop's  seat,  and 
in  return  he  received  the  arm  of  St.  Adalbert  from  the 
new  king.  So  far  Kromer.  St.  Adalbert  had  for  a 
short  time  been  the  second  archbishop  of  Gnesen,  but 
feeling  it  a  sacred  duty  to  preach  the  gospel  among 
the  heathen  Prussians,  he  had  gone  there  and  suffered 
martyrdom.  Boleslas  was  only  able  to  purchase  his 
body  at  a  great  price,  so  that  it  might  be  kept  as  a 
sacred  relic  at  Gnesen.  The  events  of  his  life  are 
figured  on  the  brazen  gates  of  the  cathedral. 

On  the  death  of  Otho  III.,  in  1002,  the  relations 
between  Boleslas  and  the  Germans  changed.  The 
quarrels  about  the  imperial  throne  enabled  him  to  con- 
quer all  Lusatia  and  Misnia.  He  brought  back  from 
exile  Boleslas  HI.,  the  Prince  of  Bohemia  ;  and  on  the 
latter  breaking  faith  with  him  he  took  possession  of 
his  country  and  also  Moravia.     Then  began  a  long 


28  THE   RISE   OF  POLISH  NATIONALITY. 

and  tedious  war  between  Poland  and  the  Emperor 
Henry  II.,  against  whom  Boleslas  was  infuriated  be- 
cause at  a  meeting  at  Merseburg,  he  had  almost  lost 
his  life  through  treachery.  The  Polish  monarch,  accor- 
dingly, entered  into  relation  with  all  those  who  were 
ill-disposed  towards  the  Emperor.  But  the  first  expe- 
dition was  unfortunate  for  Boleslas :  his  allies  acted 
feebly,  Misnia  was  first  lost  and  then  Bohemia. 
Lusatia  was  laid  waste.  But  finally,  in  1013,  peace 
was  made  between  them  at  Merseburg,  according  to 
which  all  Slavonic  territory  beyond  the  Oder  was 
freed  from  German  rule.  Boleslas  then  set  about  the 
subjugation  of  the  Pomeranians  and  the  heathen  Prus- 
sians. Missionaries  were  left  among  them  to  instruct 
them  in  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  an  iron 
pillar  was  erected  between  Rogozno  and  Laszczyn  as 
a  sign  of  their  subjugation,  from  whence  the  city  of 
Slupa  took  its  name  (j/?//,  Pol.  pillar).  The  most 
famous,  however,  of  the  wars  of  Boleslas  was  that 
with  Yaroslav,  Prince  of  Kiev,  who  had  expelled  his 
brother  Sviatopolk.  Boleslas  embraced  the  cause  of 
Sviatopolk,  and  a  battle  took  place  on  the  banks  of  the 
Bug  in  1016,  in  which  he  was  victorious.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  stimulated  to  join  battle  with  the  enemy 
by  the  jeers  of  a  Russian  soldier  who  made  fun  of  his 
corpulence.  Sviatopolk  was  restored,  but  he  behaved 
with  treachery  to  Boleslas,  who  on  a  subsequent  occa- 
sion is  said  to  have  taken  Kiev  and  to  have  struck  the 
golden  gate,  the  ruins  of  which  still  exist,  with  his 
sword.  Our  chief  authorities  for  these  transactions  are 
Thietmar,  the  German  chronicler,  and  Martin  Gallus. 
Boleslas  died  in  102$  at  Posen,  and  was  there  buried. 


BOLES  LAS    THE   GREAT.  29 

He  was  fifty-eight  years  of  age,  and  had  reigned 
thirty-three  years.  He  had  taken  the  title  of  King 
of  Poland  ;  his  great  idea  was  to  make  Poland  a 
powerful  state  in  opposition  to  Germany. 

His  reign  was  one  of  great  progress  for  the  nation  : 
many  new  cities  were  built,  trade  was  increased,  Greek 
merchants  were  induced  to  visit  the  country,  and 
money  was  coined.  To  spread  Christianity  more 
effectually  among  his  subjects,  Boleslas  sent  for  some 
Benedictine  Monks  from  France,  and  founded  mona- 
steries for  them  on  Lysa  Gora,  at  Sieciechowa,  and 
Tynec  ;  in  his  time  also  schools  were  established. 
We  are  told  that  all  the  people  wore  mourning  for 
him  during  a  year.  He  was,  in  reality,  one  of  the 
few  vigorous  monarchs  of  Poland.  He  had  largely 
extended  her  territory,  having  added  White  Croatia 
(Bialo-Chrobacya)  with  Cracow  as  far  as  the  Carpa- 
thians, the  towns  of  Galicia,  and  the  Baltic  coast.  By 
founding  the  archbishopric  of  Gnesen,  he  established  an 
independent  Polish  church,  to  which  he  subordinated 
the  other  bishoprics  which  he  had  made,  including 
Posen,  created  by  his  father.  Unfortunately,  during  his 
long  wars  with  the  Germans,  the  Polabes,  a  powerful 
tribe  which  occupied  the  territory  now  included  in 
the  territory  of  Hanover,  were  lost  to  the  Slavs,  and 
in  course  of  time  became  more  and  more  Germanised, 
although  their  language  did  not  die  out  till  the  earlier 
part  of  last  century^  It  has  survived  in  many  names 
of  places,  and  also  in  a  few  vocabularies  which  have 
been  preserved.  A  grammar  of  this  interesting 
language  was  written  by  August  Schleicher.  Thus 
by  the  commencement  of  the  eleventh  century  Poland 


30  THE  RISE   Of'  POLISH   NATIONALlfV. 

had  absorbed  nearly  all  the  western  Slavonic  states, 
including  Bohemia.  Of  the  internal  condition  of  the 
country  during  this  period  we  have  very  few  accurate 
details,  as  Dr.  Schiemann  truly  remarks.  We  find 
no  trace  in  Poland,  as  we  do  in  Russia,  of  veches,  or 
popular  assemblies  :  the  king  confers  with  his  comites 
and  the  bishops.  Society  is  organised  entirely  upon 
a  military  basis.  The  country  is  divided  into  opolje 
or  viciniae — Thietmar  uses  the  words  pagi  and  pro- 
vincice — and  the  king's  governors  or  castellans  were 
stationed  in  the  towns  or  fortresses.  Most  of  the 
towns  appear  to  have  been  kept  in  this  way  in  a  state 
of  defence,  and  were  generally  the  seats  of  bishoprics. 
The  privileged  class  in  whose  hands  lay  the  power 
was  called  the  Szlachta,  a  word  probably  derived 
from  the  German  Geschlecht.  Of  the  condition  of 
the  rural  population  we  shall  speak  afterwards.  At 
the  present  time  we  get  no  mention  of  it ;  but  it  is 
obvious  that  the  frequent  wars  of  Boleslas  must  have 
filled  the  country  with  captives,  who,  according  to  the 
laws  of  war  of  the  time,  became  slaves.  It  will  be 
seen  what  effect  their  existence  had  upon  the  pre- 
rural  population. 


IV. 


FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  BOLESLAS  THE  BRAVE  TO 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  PRZEMY- 
SLAW  I. 


BOLESLAS  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Mieczyslaw  II. 
(1026- 1 034),  of  whom  it  will  be  enough  to  say  that 
he  divided  Poland  into  palatinates.  His  reign  was 
in  other  respects  insignificant.  He  was  the  second  of 
the  three  sons  of  Boleslas,  the  names  of  his  brothers 
being  Bezprim  and  Dobremir.  It  is  not  known 
whether  Boleslas  had  divided  his  kingdom  among 
his  sons,  as  was  so  frequently  the  custom  at  the 
time  ;  perhaps  Mieczyslaw  had  been  able  to  drive 
out  Bezprim.  He  soon  became  involved  in  a  quarrel 
with  Conrad,  the  German  Emperor,  who  probably 
would  be  ill-pleased  with  his  having  assumed  the  title 
of  king  without  his  consent.  Conrad  seems  to  have 
assisted  Bezprim  in  his  attempt  to  gain  the  throne,  and 
he  returned  to  Poland  and  obtained  the  supremacy, 
fully  confessing  his  subordination  to  the  German 
Emperor  by  means  of  an  embassy.  He  was,  how- 
ever, soon  after  murdered.  Mieczyslaw,  who  had 
fled,  then  returned.  In  1034  he  died.  He  is  said 
by  some  to  have  been  a  very  weak  king ;  certainly 

31 


32     FROM  DEATH  OF  BOLESLAS  TO  PRZEMYSLAW     I. 

in  his  time  Poland  greatly  receded  from  the  position 
she  had  held  during  the  life  of  his  father.  Not  only 
the  part  on  the  Baltic  coast  was  lost,  and  also  Moravia, 
but  those  portions  of  territory  in  the  east  which  had 
been  gained  at  the  expense  of  Russia.  According  to 
Dr.  Schiemann,  it  is  in  this  reign  that  we  can  first  dis- 
tinctly trace  the  power  of  the  Polish  Szlachta  or 
nobility,  destined  to  play  so  important  a  part  in  the 
subsequent  history.  Moreover,  owing  to  the  weakness 
of  the  government,  there  was  a  great  recrudescence  of 
paganism  ;  for  we  can  easily  believe  that  Christianity 
had  hardly  yet  become  firmly  planted  in  the  country. 
Mieczyslaw  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Casimir  (Kazi- 
mierz,  1040-1058),  during  whose  minority  his  mother, 
Ryxa,  as  she  is  called  by  the  Polish  annalists,  was 
regent.  The  exact  form  of  her  name  was  Richeza. 
She  was  a  German,  and  daughter  of  a  certain  Pfalz- 
graf  Ego.  She  appears,  however,  to  have  soon  be- 
come unpopular,  probably  on  account  of  her  German 
leanings,  and  was  obliged  to  quit  the  country.  It  was 
in  Masovia  that  the  heathen  party,  led  by  a  certain 
Moislaw,  had  its  stronghold  ;  in  order  to  make  head 
against  them,  Casimir  formed  an  alliance  with 
Jaroslaw,  the  Prince  of  Kiev,  and  married  his  sister 
Maria,  otherwise  called  Dobrogniewa  or  Dobronega. 
In  consequence  of  this,  in  1041,  he  received  the  as- 
sistance of  some  Russian  troops,  but,  probably  as  a 
condition  of  their  help,  was  obliged  to  cede  definitely 
to  Kiev  some  of  the  Red  Russian  cities  which  Poland 
had  acquired.  By  his  marriage  with  the  Russian 
princess,  who  thereupon  abjured  the  Greek  faith,  he 
became  the   brother-in-law  of   Henry    I.  of  P'rance, 


THE   INTERDICT.  33 

who  had  married  another  sister.  The  suzerainty  of 
the  German  Empire  over  Poland  was  again  firmly 
established.  Casimir  induced  several  monks  to  come 
from  Cluny  in  France,  and  founded  two  monasteries 
for  them,  one  near  Cracow,  and  the  other  in  Silesia, 
which  at  that  time  formed  part  of  the  Polish  kingdom. 
Casimir  died  in  the  year  1058,  and  was  buried  at 
Posen.  Boleslas  II,,  the  eldest  of  the  four  sons  of 
Casimir,  succeeded  him.  The  period  of  his  coming 
to  the  throne  was  a  very  favourable  one  for  Poland. 
Germany  was  in  a  great  state  of  disturbance  on  the 
death  of  the  Emperor,  Henry  III.  Boleslas  allied 
himself  with  the  Russians,  and  some  enemies  of  the 
Germans,  and  on  Christmas  \\\c,  in  the  year  1076, 
assumed  the  kingly  crown.  But  he  came  into  conflict 
with  the  spiritual  power  in  the  person  of  Stanislaus, 
the  l^ishop  of  Cracow,  and  killed  him  with  his  own 
hand.  The  bishop  had  put  all  the  churches  of  Cracow 
under  an  interdict.  Such  a  crime  was  not  likely  to 
go  unpunished  in  those  days.  Gregory  VII.  (Hilde- 
brand)  extended  the  interdict  to  the  whole  kingdom. 
Boleslas  was  driven  out  of  the  country,  and  died  in 
Hungary  in  1082,  without,  as  far  we  know,  having 
made  any  attempt  to  regain  his  lost  crown.  His 
subjects  called  to  the  throne  his  brother  Ladislaus 
(Wladyslaw).  Anxious  to  have  the  interdict  removed, 
he  at  once  despatched  ambassadors  to  the  Pope,  who, 
although  he  allowed  the  churches  to  be  reopened, 
refused  to  ratify  the  title  of  king  ;  for  more  than 
two  hundred  years  (1079- 1295)  Poland  remained,  as 
it  had  originaHy  been,  a  simple  duchy.  Ladislaus 
was  twice  married  ;  by  his  first  wife,  Judith,  daughter 

4 


34     PROM  DEATH  OF  BOLESLAS  TO  PRZEMYSLAW  I. 

of  the  Bohemian  Duke  Vratislav,  he  had  a  son, 
Boleslas,  who  afterwards  succeeded  him  ;  his  second 
wife  was  Sofia,  daughter  of  the  German  Emperor. 
Ladislaus  was  engaged  in  wars  with  the  Bohemians 
and  the  Pomeranians.  Already  before  his  death  his  son 
Boleslas  had  distinguished  himself.  Ladislaus  died 
at  Block  in  1 102,  as  was  suspected,  of  poison.  Not 
long  before  his  death  he  had  married  Boleslas  to  the 
daughter  of  Sviatopolk,  the  Grand  Duke  of  Kiev. 

Boleslas  III.  (1102-1139)  was  surnamed  Krzy- 
wousty,  or  the  wry-mouthed,  his  mouth  being 
slightly  twisted  on  account  of  a  wound.  We  .shall 
find  many  Polish  kings,  like  our  own,  with  similar 
quaint  nicknames.  He  was  a  redoubtable  warrior, 
and  conquered  and  converted  to  Christianity,  with 
the  aid  of  St.  Otho,  the  Pomeranians  from  the  Oder 
to  the  Vistula.  In  the  short  period  of  about  nine 
months  Otho  had  induced  all  the  important  towns 
in  their  territory  to  accept  Christianity,  and  had 
baptized  22,166  persons.  On  February  11,  1 125,  he 
came  back  to  Poland.  Unfortunately,  like  the 
Russian  princes,  he  parcelled  out  his  dominions 
among  his  four  sons.  This  weakened  the  rising 
nationality ;  among  other  disadvantages,  Silesia  was 
lost  to  Poland,  having  become  partly  Germanised 
under  the  Germanised  princes  of  the  elder  lines  of 
the  Piasts.  The  Polish  language,  however,  is  still 
spoken  in  some  of  its  district.s.  The  dominions  of 
Boleslas  finally  devolved  to  his  youngest  son  Casimir, 
who  reigned  from  1 178-1 194,  and  is  chiefly  remem- 
bered as  having  summoned  a  council  of  the  bishops 
and    nobles    at   T.(^czyca,  and   thus    having    laid    the 


CONRAD   OF  MA  SO  VI A. 


35 


foundations  of  the  Polish  senate.  The  order  of 
Cistercian  monks  was  also  introduced  into  the 
country.  The  reigns  of  Leszek  V.,  the  White, 
Ladislaus  III.,  and  Boleslas  V..  present  little  worthy 
our  attention.     Conrad,  Duke  of  Masovia,  and  brother 


A  CUP   PRESERVED    IN    THE   CAlUEDkAL   OF    PLOCK, 
CONRAD   I.,    DUKE  OF   MASOVIA. 


.IVEN   BY 


of  Leszek,  allowed  the  order  of  Teutonic  knights  to 
settle  in  the  Polish  territories  on  the  Baltic,  from 
whom    the    Prussian    monarchy,   one    of  the    great 


36     FROM  DEATH  OF  BOLESLAS  TO  FRZEMYSLAW  I, 

enemies  of  the  republic,  was  afterwards  to  develoji 
itself  He  gave  them  the  territory  of  Chelm  and  all 
that  they  could  conquer  from  the  heathen  Prussians. 
These  Teutonic  knights  were  originally  an  order 
founded  at  Jerusalem  to  take  care  of  the  pilgrims 
who  resorted  thither.  They  were  established  by  the 
Pope  in  1 191.  Their  habit  was  a  black  coat  and  a 
white  cloak  with  a  black  cross  ;  their  weapon  a  large 
sword  without  any  ornament  ;  they  slept  upon  a  bed 
of  straw  ;  originally  for  diet  they  were  only  allowed 
bread  and  water.  An  oath  was  taken  by  each  candi- 
date on  entering  that  he  was  of  German  blood,  of 
noble  family,  and  that  he  would  lead  a  life  of  chastity. 
Forty  noble  Germans  at  once  became  members  of  the 
order  as  soon  as  it  had  been  confirmed  by  the  Pope. 
We  shall  find  these  knights  afterwards  amalgamated 
with  the  sword-bearers  of  Livonia. 

In  the  reign  of  Boleslas  V.  (1227- 1279)  a  great 
Mongolian  invasion  occurred.  These  barbarians, 
issuing  from  their  fastnesses  in  the  steppes  on  the 
banks  of  the  Volga  and  in  the  Crimea,  made  an 
incursion  into  Poland,  but  after  the  victory  of  Lignica 
(Liegnitz),  in  Silesia  in  1241,  they  were  diverted  into 
Hungary.  They  carried  off  many  prisoners  and  much 
plunder.  We  are  told  that  nine  sacks  were  filled  with 
the  ears  of  the  slain.  It  was  also  in  this  reign  that 
large  colonies  of  Germans  settled  in  the  country. 
They  were  established  as  free  inhabitants  of  the  land, 
in  contradistinction  to  the  Polish  peasant,  who  was 
becoming  more  and  more  enslaved  and  weighed  down 
by  the  corv/e  required  of  him.  A  whole  series  of 
German  towns  sprung  up.     Owing  to  the  little  inch- 


LESZEKy   THE    BLACK,  37 

nation  of  the  natives  for  trade,  which  seems  a  charac- 
teristic of  the  Slavs,  commerce  in  the  towns  fell 
almost  entirely  into  the  hands  of  these  colonists,  who 
enjoyed  peculiar  privileges,  and  were  governed  by  laws 
of  their  own  as  embodied  in  \.\\q  Jus  Magdehii^gicum  ; 
up  to  the  time  of  Casimir  the  Great  they  had  a 
right  of  appeal  to  the  magistrate  at  Magdeburg.  It 
is  from  this  time  that  we  can  trace  the  introduction  of 
many  German  words  into  the  Polish  language.  It 
was  in  the  thirteenth  century  also  that  the  Armenians 
first  made  their  appearance  in  the  country.  They 
became  of  great  importance  as  traders,  and  under 
their  influence  the  city  of  Lemberg  (Lwow)  attained 
considerable  prosperity.  Of  Leszek,  surnamed  the 
Black,  who  succeeded  (1279-1289),  the  reign  was  un- 
eventful, but  Przemyslaw,  who  began  to  rule  in  1295, 
reconstituted  Poland  as  a  kingdom  without  troubling 
himself  about  the  papal  authority,  and  received  the 
crown  from  his  nobles  and  clergy  at  Gnesen.  Of  him 
we  shall  speak  in  the  following  chapter. 


FROM  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  PRZEMY- 
SLAW  I.  (1295)  TO  THE  MARRIAGE  OF  J  AD- 
WIG  A  AND  JAGIELLO    (1386). 

Przemyslaw  promised  to  be  an  efficient  ruler,  but 
was  not  destined  to  occupy  the  throne  for  more  than 
seven  months,  being  murdered  at  Rogozno,  not  far 
from  Posen,  and  close  to  the  Prussian  frontier  Pass- 
ing over  Wencelaus  (Waclaw),  who  was  also  King  cf 
Bohemia,  we  come  to  Ladislaus  Lokietek,  or  the 
Dwarf  (so  called  from  Lokiec  an  ell,  on  account  of  his 
shortness).  The  most  noteworthy  event  of  his  reign 
was  his  war  with  the  Teutonic  knights,  in  which  he 
was  glad  to  make  peace,  although  in  1 331  he  gained 
a  victory  over  them  at  Plovvcze  in  Cujavia.  The  war 
led  to  no  very  definite  result,  but  during  the  time  of 
Wladyslaw  we  see  the  great  rise  of  the  Lithuanian 
principality  under  Gedymin.  Some  heretics  made 
their  appearance  in  Poland  about  this  time,  advoca- 
ting communistic  doctrines ;  they  were  suppressed, 
and  from  this  dates  the  establishment  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion in  Poland  in  a  somewhat  mild  form,  which  lasted 
till  the  reign  of  Sigismund  I,      About  13 12  Cracow 

38 


LADISLAUS   LOKIETEK. 


39 


becomes  prominent  as  the  capital,  and  around  it  is 
gathered  the  national  life :  Ladislaus  Lokietek  was 
the    first   monarch   crowned    there.      Ladislaus   had 


SEAL  OF   PRZEMYSLAW   I.,    DUKE  OF  GREAT   POLAND. 


married  Jadwiga,  the  daughter  of  Boleslas,  prince  of 
Kalisz  :  he  died  at  the  aged  of  73  in  1333,  after  an 
agitated    life,   and    was   buried    in    the   cathedral    at 


40  FROM   THE    YEAR    1 295    TO    1 386. 

Cracow.  The  granite  monument  over  his  remains 
shows  the  life-sized  statue  of  the  king. 

Concerning  the  internal  condition  of  the  country 
more  will  be  said  in  a  subsequent  chapter ;  there  were 
only  two  classes  of  people  (excluding  the  ecclesiastics), 
the  szlachta,  or  nobility,  and  the  narod,  or  people. 
The  burghers  in  the  towns  were  Germans.  The  narod 
was  divided  into  the  free  peasants  {libert),  and  those 
attached  to  the  glebe  {adscripticii,  adscript i,  servi 
glebce),  who  were  the  property  of  their  masters.  The 
free  peasants  paid  a  rent  to  the  owner  of  the  land 
which  they  cultivated,  but  could  leave  it  when  they 
felt  inclined.  About  this  time  the  word  cmeto,  or 
kmetJio,  begins  to  make  its  appearance  in  documents. 
It  has  been  derived  by  some  from  the  Latin  comes. 
It  originally  included  both  free  and  bond.  Traces 
also  of  something  like  a  parliamentary  system  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Schiemann,  may  be  found  for  the  first  time 
in  the  councils  which  began  to  be  held  to  discuss  the 
affairs  of  the  kingdom  and  to  administer  justice. 

Ladislaus  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Casimir  III., 
who  has  earned  among  his  countrymen  the  appella- 
tion of  the  great,  and  also  that  of  the  peasants' 
king  (Krol  Chlopow).  The  material  prosperity  of 
the  country  increased  under  his  rule.  Commerce  was 
developed,  and  Cracow  and  Danzig  became  members 
of  the  Hanseatic  League.  We  also  begin  to  hear  of 
Warsaw,  which  was  destined  subsequently  to  become 
the  capital.  Ladislaus  had  assembled  the  first  known 
Seyjn,  or  Diet,  at  Ch^ciny  {generalem  omnium  terrartim 
conventiini)  ;  it  consisted  of  the  princes  (we  find  the 
terms  principes, procercs,  nobiles  continually  recurring). 


G ALICIA   ACQUIRED, 


41 


prelates,  barons,  and  knights.  Caslmir  in  1364  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  University  of  Cracow  by  the  estab- 
lishment in  the  village  of  Wav^el  (nov^^  Kazimierz,  the 
suburb  of  Cracow),  a  stiidiiim  generale  of  the  three 
faculties — law,  medicine,  and  philosophy.  But  the 
attempt  did  not  succeed  ;  there  was  a  lack  of  pro- 
fessors, and  no  definite  results  of  teaching  were  ob- 
tained.    Finally,  in  the  time  of  Lewis,  the  successor 


SEAL  OF  CASIMIR  THE   GREAT. 


of  Casimir,  the  institution  came  to  an  end,  and  the 
Polish  youth  repaired  for  education  to  the  sister  uni- 
versity of  Prague.  It  was  reserved  for  Queen  Jad- 
wiga  and  her  husband  Ladislaus  Jagiello  to  carry  out 
the  plan  of  Casimir.  In  1340  the  principality  of 
Galicia  was  united  to  Poland  :  the  last  duke  had  died 
the  preceding  year,  and  his  territory  lay  at  the  mercy 
of  the  invader.  The  Poles,  therefore,  were  not  long 
before  they  seized   it.     We   must  remember  that  in 


42  FROM   THE    YEAR    I295    TO   I386. 

earlier  times  some  of  its  towns  had  belonged  to  them. 
It  has  never  been  thoroughly  Polonized,  the  bulk  of 
the  population  even  to  the  present  day  speaking  the 
Malo-Russian  language. 

In  1347  was  held  the  celebrated  diet  of  Wislica 
near  Cracow,  at  which  the  so-called  statute  was 
enacted,  the  first  monument  of  the  Polish  jurispru- 
dence. The  code  consists  of  two  parts:  (i)  that 
dealing  with  Great  Poland,  which  was  enacted  at 
Piotrkow ;  and  (2)  that  dealing  with  Little  Poland,  at 
Wislica.  They  were  formed  into  one  code  in  1368. 
Throughout  her  history  we  shall  see  that  the  pro- 
vinces of  Poland  had  many  separate  laws  and  privi- 
leges. These  statutes  are  in  the  I>atin  language, 
which  was  then  much  used  in  the  country.  We  have 
seen  that  a  national  diet  was  at  this  time  a  regular 
feature  of  the  country  ;  it  consisted  of  the  barons  and 
upj-ar  clergy.  We  hear  nothing  of  the  burghers 
being  admitted,  and  indeed  nothing  corresponding  to 
a  native  middle  class  existed  in  Poland.  The  free 
peasants  and  the  serfs,  strictly  so  called,  who  had  no 
rights— sometimes  called /^r^^>^/ or  originaidi,  besides 
the  names  by  which  they  have  been  already  men- 
tioned— were  already  becoming  fused  into  a  class  of 
mere  bondmen.  The  number  of  peasants,  taken  in 
the  wars,  who  were  reduced  to  slavery  had  a  depressing 
influence  upon  the  condition  of  the  free  peasants. 
Wherever,  as  Chicherin  says,  such  relations  have 
existed,  they  have  invariably  had  a  tendency  to  cause 
the  free  peasants  to  be  enslaved.  The  same  thing 
appears  to  have  occurred  in  Russia,  where  the  peasant 
became  enslaved  gradually  and  for  economic  reasons. 


GERMANS   IN   POLAND. 


43 


In  the  statute  of  Wislica  are  many  enactments  favour- 
able to  the  peasant :  the  wretched  condition  into  which 
he  sunk  in  Poland  will  be  fully  discussed  in  a  subse- 
quent chapter. 

The  reign  of  Casimir  saw  a  continual  influx  of  Ger- 
man artisans  and  traders  into  Poland,  but  he  took  away 
the  appeal  to  Magdeburg  in  1364,  and  established  a 


SEAL  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CRACOW  (1333-I370), 


court  for  the  citizens  at  Cracow.  Many  handsome  build- 
ings were  erected  throughout  the  countrx',  and  security 
of  life  and  property  was  established.  The  chronicler 
Jan  von  Czarnkow  has  left  us  a  long  list  of  the 
fortresses  and  towns  built  by  this  really  great 
monarch.  Though  Casimir  was  thrice  married,  he 
had  but  one  child,  and  she  was   a   daughter.      He 


44  FROM   THE    YitAR    T295    TO    T386. 

convoked  a  Diet  at  Cracow  on  the  8th  of  May, 
I339>  ^"  which  he  proposed  as  his  successor  his 
nephew,  Louis  of  Hungary,  the  son  of  his  sister 
Elizabeth.  This  was  to  concede  to  the  diet  a  very 
important  privilege,  tliat  of  electing  their  sovereigns. 
The  nobles  soon  made  use  of  the  concession.  Before 
they  allowed  Louis  to  succeed  they  exacted  some 
important  terms  from  him  which  were  the  foundation 
of  the  pac/a  conventa. 

Casimir  was  engaged  in  constant  wars  with  the 
Russians,  Lithuanians,  and  Mongols.  The  kingdom 
was  put  in  an  admirable  state  of  defence  by  an 
ordinance  something  like  our  commission  of  array  ; 
on  an  appeal  called  Wici,  every  one,  at  the  first 
summons,  had  to  get  ready  for  the  war.  At  the 
second  every  man  mounted  his  horse  and  betook 
himself  to  the  place  appointed  for  the  gathering. 
At  the  third  they  were  organized  by  the  Castellan, 
who  handed  them  over  to  the  Wojewode.  When 
the  whole  host  was  gathered  together,  the  supreme 
command  belonged  to  the  king. 

In  1334  the  great  statute  concerning  the  Jews  was 
enacted.  There  is  also  another  statute  called  privilegia 
Judceoriun,  dated  1357.  Casimir  is  said  to  have  favoured 
the  Jews  on  account  of  his  fondness  for  a  Jewess 
named  Esther,  but  the  tale  is  rejected  by  the  historian 
Caro.  We  have  seen  the  king  successful  both  in 
his  foreign  wars  and  the  internal  development  of  the 
country.  The  privileges  granted  by  the  Jus  Magde- 
biirgicnm,  filled  in  a  short  time  the  cities  and  villages 
which  had  been  devastated  by  the  Tatars  and  other 
enemies  with  German  settlers,  Armenians  and  Jews, 


FESTIVITIES   AT   CRACOW.  45 

Trade  was  carried  on  with  Nuremberg,  Augsburg, 
Venice,  the  Hungarians,  Southern  Russia,  and  Eng- 
land. But  Casimir  is  considered  by  the  Poles  to 
have  been  a  luxurious  sovereign  ;  John  of  Czarnkovv, 
the  archdeacon  of  Gnesen,  has  told  us  of  the  brilliant 
scenes  which  occurred  at  Cracow  in  December,  1363, 
when  the  king,  in  conjunction  with  Duke  Bolko  of 
Schweidnitz,  acted  as  umpire  in  a  dispute  between 
the  Emperor  Charles  and  King  Louis  of  Hungary. 
Charles  married  Elizabeth,  the  granddaughter  of  the 
PoHsh  king,  and  held  his  wedding  festivities  at  Cracow. 
The  Emperor,  four  kings,  and  numerous  princes  and 
lords  were  present  on  this  brilliant  occasion.  We  can 
imagine  how  picturesque  the  fine  old  city  must  have 
appeared  — 

"  With  store  of  ladies,  whose  bright  eyes 
Rain'd  influence  and  adjudged  the  prize." 

There  were,  however,  dark  sides  to  this  picture. 
Casimir,  who  was  a  man  of  very  irregular  life,  was 
not  happy  in  his  matrimonial  alliances.  Wladyslaw, 
his  father,  had  effected  a  marriage  for  him  with 
Anna  Aldona,  the  daughter  of  Gedymin,  the  Prince 
of  Lithuania.  After  her  death  he  contracted  a 
marriage  with  Margaret,  the  daughter  of  John  of 
Bohemia,  killed  at  the  battle  of  Crecy.  But  she  is 
said  to  have  died  of  grief  at  her  approaching  union 
with  a  man  whom  she  disliked.  In  1341  Casimir 
married  Adelaide  of  Hesse,  a  woman  of  no  per- 
sonal attractions.  With  her  he  soon  quarrelled, 
and  banished  her  to  the  castle  of  Jarnowec,  where 
she  remained  fifteen    years  without   seeing  her  hus- 


46  FROM   THE    YEAR    1 295    TO    1 386. 

band.  The  conduct  of  Casimir  was  so  licentious 
that,  after  useless  remonstrances,  the  Archbishop  of 
Cracow  excommunicated  him,  and  sent  a  priest  to 
bring  to  him  the  intelligence  of  his  punishment. 
But  the  unfortunate  ecclesiastic  was  doomed  to 
expiate  his  courage  by  being  thrust  into  a  dungeon 
at  once,  and  during  the  night  thrown  into  the  Vistula. 
He  was  thus  destined  to  have  the  same  fate  as  St. 
John  Nepomuk  suffered  for  administering  a  rebuke 
to  the  drunken  Wenceslaus  of  Bohemia.  Casimir, 
however,  afterwards  submitted  himself  to  the  Pope 
and  received  absolution.  His  third  wife  was  Jadwiga, 
daughter  of  the  Prince  of  Glogau. 

In  some  of  his  foreign  political  measures,  Casimir 
did  not  show  his  usual  prudence.  His  father  on  his 
death-bed  had  advised  him  to  make  no  concessions 
to  the  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  nor  to  the  Teutonic 
knights,  whom  the  Poles  had  foolishly  allowed  to 
settle  down  close  by  them.  But  Casimir,  to  sa\e 
Cujavia  and  Dobrzyn,  which  had  been  seized  by  the 
knights,  gave  up  Pomerania  to  them  in  spite  of  the 
remonstrance  of  the  Pope.  He  also  bought  off  the 
claims  of  the  King  of  Bohemia  to  the  crown  of 
Poland  by  the  cession  of  all  Silesia,  now  almost 
completely  German.  The  Polish  tongue,  however, 
may  still  be  heard  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Oppeln, 
and  even  in  some  parts  of  Breslau  (Wroclaw),  although 
the  town  is  now  completely  Germanized. 

Casimir's  death  was  caused  by  a  fall  from  his 
horse  while  hunting,  near  Cracow,  on  the  3th  of 
November,  1370.  He  lies  buried  in  the  Cathedral 
of    Cracow,    which    contains    so    many    interesting 


yADWTGA.  47 

monuments  of  the  Polish  kings.  His  tomb  is  of 
reddish-brown  marble.  The  monarch  is  represented 
as  lying  under  a  baldachin,  supported  by  pillars  , 
he  is  clothed  in  his  royal  mantle  ;  his  crowned  head 
rests  on  a  cushion  ;  in  his  hand  he  holds  the  sceptre 
and  globe,  and  a  lion  is  at  his  feet.  So  rests  the 
great  king  in  his  capital,  which  has  now  passed  into 
the  hands  of  his  enemies.  His  monument  gives  us 
an  authentic  portrait  of  him ;  his  contemporaries 
speak  of  him  as  a  man  of  compact  build,  with  a 
broad  forehead  and  curly  hair. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Louis  of  Hungary  (1370- 
1382),  whose  reign  is  insignificant  for  Polish  history, 
except  that  the  power  of  the  nobility  is  still  con- 
stantly on  the  increase.  At  the  diet  of  Koszyczin, 
1^74,  he  secured  the  throne  to  his  daughter  Jadwiga, 
as  he  had  no  male  offspring  ;  but  only  by  conceding 
great  privileges  to  the  nobility  which  again  foreshadow 
the  /facta  conve^ita  ;  he  freed  among  other  tfiings  the 
szlachta  almost  entirely  from  taxation.  He  died  in 
1382,  and  with  him  the  male  line  of  the  Piasts  ended. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  the  interregnums  now  occurred 
which  were  always  fraught  with  so  much  mischief  to 
Poland.  Jadwiga,  the  daughter  of  Louis,  succeeded, 
but  was  compelled  by  the  diet  to  marry  Jagiello,  the 
Lithuanian  prince,  with  a  view  to  the  union  of  that 
country  with  Poland.  We  have  already  said  some- 
thing about  this  country.  The  derivation  of  the 
name  Litwa  is  obscure  ;  we  do  not  hear  anything 
about  the  people  till  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  They  were  obscure  barbarians,  inhabiting 
a  corner  of  Europe.     At  that  period  Mindovg,  one  of 


TOMB   OF   CASIMIR   THE  GREAT   IN    THE    CATHEDRAL    AT    CRACOW. 


LADI SLAVS  JAGIELLO.  49 

their  chiefs,  formed  his  territories  into  a  principality, 
and  the  importance  of  the  country  was  at  its  hei<^ht, 
under  one  of  his  successors,  Gedymin,  who  contrived 
to  get  into  his  possession  many  of  the  Russian  cities, 
including  even  Kiev.  The  capital  of  this  Lithua- 
nian state  was  Wilno,  and  it  extended  from  the 
Baltic  to  the  Black  Sea.  The  official  language  of 
the  country  was  White  Russian,  and  in  this  tongue 
its  laws  were  promulgated.  In  1240,  the  Lithuanians 
had  already  come  into  contact  with  the  Teutonic 
knights,  their  redoubtable  foes. 

Jadwiga  was  a  woman  of  beauty  and  spirit,  and 
Jagiello  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  of  savage  manners, 
but  she  consented  to  the  union,  although  she  had  half 
given  her  affections  to  an  Austrian  prince.  Lithuania 
was  thus  annexed  to  Poland  ;  a  more  complete 
federation  took  place  at  Lublin  in  the  year  1569. 
Jagiello  was  a  pagan,  but  was  ready  to  turn  Christian, 
and,  indeed,  was  born  of  a  Christian  mother.  He  also 
numbered  among  his  subjects  many  members  of  the 
Orthodox  Church,  with  whose  creed  neither  he  nor  his 
predecessors  appear  to  have  interfered.  A  marriage, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  previously  taken  place  between 
the  sovereigns  of  the  two  countries,  as  the  first  wife 
of  Casimir  the  Great,  Anna  Aldona,  was  a  daughter 
of  Gedymin,  the  Lithuanian  prince.  The  Austrian 
archduke,  to  whom  Jadwiga  had  previously  plighted 
her  troth,  made  his  appearance  with  a  splendid 
retinue  at  Cracow  ;  but,  finding  that  nothing  could 
come  of  his  suit,  retired.  In  1386  Jagiello  married 
Jadwiga,  and  took  the  name  of  Ladislaus  (Wadyslaw) 
on  his   conversion,   and    in    his   person    begins   the 


50 


FROM   THE    YEAR    1 295    TO    1 386. 


dynasty  of  the  Jagiellos,  which  lasted  for  nearly  two 
centuries,  terminating  in  1572  with  Sigismund 
AugustiSs.  We  might  even  say  that  it  lasted  nearly 
a  century  longer,  omitting  the  short  and  brilliant 
reign  of  Stephen  Batory  (i  576-1 586),  for  Sigismund 
III.  was  the  son  of  Catharine,  sister  of  Sigismund  IL 
and  Wladyslaw  IV.  and  John  Casimir  were  his  sons. 


SEAL  QF   CASIMIR   THE  GREAH 


VI. 


THE  EARLY  JAGIELLOS.      FROM  LADISLAUS  JAGIELLO 
TO  SIGISMUND   I. 


(1 386-1 507.) 


Poland  was  now  steadily  advancing  in  prosperity, 
and  gradually  assuming  its  position  as  the  great  power 
of  Eastern  Europe  ;  which  it  continued  to  be  till 
nearly  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  After 
Jagiello  had  been  baptized,  his  Lithuanian  subjects 
followed  his  example,  undergoing  the  same  com- 
pulsory conversion  which  the  Russians  had  ex- 
perienced in  the  time  of  Vladimir.  They  seem, 
however,  from  the  narratives  of  travellers  to  have 
preserved  many  heathen  customs  for  a  long  time 
afterwards.  Herbcrstein,  who  visited  Russia  at  the 
commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century,  has  some 
strange  stories  to  tell  us,  and  we  shall  find  a  recru- 
descence of  their  paganism,  as  we  have  done  in  the 
case  of  the  Poles  at  an  earlier  period.  The  Teutonic 
order  felt  like  Othello,  that  their  occupation  was  gone 
when  the  heathen  Lithuanians  had  been  converted,  and 
there  w^s  no  further  need  of  their  "  apostolic  blows  and 
knocks."     Their  position,  indeed,  was   a   precarious 


52  THE   EARLY   JAGIELLOS. 

one,  surrounded  as  they  were  by  powerful  and  united 
enemies.  They  betook  themselves  to  intrigue,  and 
there  are  even  found  indications  of  a  plan  which 
the  Grand  Master  had  entered  into  for  dismember- 
ing the  country  ;  they  looked  to  any  of  the  neigh- 
bouring peoples  who  were  hostile  to  the  growing 
state.  The  nobles  gained  some  important  conces- 
sions from  Ladislaus  ;  the  fusion  of  the  two  states 
was  not  a  light  matter,  and  we  shall  see  in  the  course 
of  our  narrative  to  what  jealousies  it  gave  rise.  They 
secured  for  themselves  exemption  from  all  taxes 
when  called  to  serve  beyond  the  frontiers,  and  an 
allowance  of  five  marks  a  day  for  every  horseman  ;  they 
also  procured  the  exclusion  of  members  of  the  royal 
family  from  all  the  higher  offices  of  the  state,  which  they 
reserved  for  themselves.  Jagiello  displeased  his  old 
subjects  by  transferring  his  residence  to  Cracow,  and 
during  his  reign  there  was  a  simultaneous  rising  of 
the  pagan  and  Orthodox  Lithuanians,  the  latter 
dreading  the  influence  of  Catholicism.  They  put 
themselves  under  Vitovt,  the  grandson  of  Gedymin, 
and  made  such  a  vigorous  stand,  that  Jagiello,  in 
1392,  created  Lithuania  into  a  sort  of  appanage  of 
the  crown  of  Poland  under  Vitovt,  who  died  in  1430, 
aged  eighty.  One  of  the  results  of  the  new  union 
was  a  vigorous  attack  of  the  combined  forces  against 
their  old  enemies,  the  Teutonic  knights,  whom  they 
defeated  at  the  great  battle  of  Grlinwald,  near 
Tannenberg  in  Prussia,  in  1410,  in  which  Ulrich  von 
Jungingen,  the  Grand  Master,  was  killed.  In  one  of 
the  battles  between  the  Teutonic  knights  and  the 
Lithuanians,    Henry  Bolingbroke,  afterwards    Henry 


VITOVT.  53 

IV.  of  England,  fought.     Chaucer,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, says  of  his  knight — 

"  Ful  ofte  time  he  had  the  bord  bygonne 
Aboven  alle  naciouns  in  Pruce  ; 
In  Lettowe  hadde  he  reysed  and  in  Ruce." 

On  the  day  after  the  battle  King  Ladislaus  wrote 
to  his  (second)  wife  Anna  and  to  the  Bishop  of  Posen. 
The  letters  have  been  preserved  ;  a  translation  of 
the  former  is  given  in  his  History  by  Dr.  Schie- 
mann.  Ladislaus  died  in  1434,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  of  the  same  name.  His  Queen  Jadwiga 
had  deceased  in  1399;  she  was  greatly  beloved  by  her 
subjects.  Her  husband  married  three  times  after  her 
death  ;  his  second  wife  was  Anna,  his  third  Elizabeth, 
a  widow,  and  the  fourth  Sophia,  a  princess  of  Kiev. 
Although  he  had  really  forfeited  his  crown  on  the 
death  of  Jadwiga,  in  whose  right  he  held  it  ;  yet  the 
Poles,  seeing  the  advantage  of  the  union  of  Poland 
and  Lithuania,  continued  him  in  his  position.  One 
of  the  most  important  results  of  the  battle  of 
Tannenberg  was  the  closer  union  of  the  Poles  and 
Lithuanians  ;  the  country  of  the  latter  began  to  be 
organised  on  the  same  basis  as  Poland  ;  Palatines 
and  Castellans  were  appointed  at  Wilno  and  Troki. 
The  attempts  to  introduce  the  Roman  Catholic  reli- 
gion throughout  the  whole  land  were  not  so  successful. 
Vitovt,  already  mentioned,  summoned  a  synod  of 
the  Orthodox  clergy  at  Nowogrodek,  with  the  view  of 
guaranteeing  the  independence  of  the  Lithuanian 
Church.  Its  only  rulers  were  to  be  the  Metropolitan 
of  Kiev  and  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople.     He  is 


54  THE    EARLY  JAGIELLOS. 

even  said  to  have  aimed  at  a  union  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  Churches.  Gregory  Zemblak,  whom  Vitovt 
had  appointed  the  new  Metropolitan  of  Kiev,  was 
sent  by  him  to  Constance  with  nineteen  suffragan 
bishops  to  bring  this  about.  In  1421  Vitovt  at  the 
invitation  of  the  Bohemians  showed  himself  willing 
to  accept  their  crown,  but  Sigismund  succeeded  in 
getting  it,  although  he  had  made  himself  hateful  to 
the  Bohemian  nation  by  his  disgraceful  betrayal  of 
Huss  at  the  Council  of  Constance.  Although  ^neas 
Sylvius  has  painted  with  no  friendly  hand  the  great 
Lithuanian,  Vitovt — for  so  he  may  rightly  be  termed 
— yet,  obscure  as  his  history  may  be,  from  what  has 
been  told  us  about  him  we  do  not  learn  any  parti- 
cular deeds  of  cruelty  ;  he  appears,  however,  when 
it  suited  him,  to  have  been  somewhat  treacherous. 
Besides  Lithuanian  and  Russian,  he  spoke  German, 
probably  also  Polish  and  Latin  ;  all  the  documents  of 
his  chancery  are  in  Russian. 

Of  Jagiello,  we  are  told  in  the  chronicles  that  he 
was  a  very  tender-hearted  man,  and  kindly  in  lan- 
guage ;  he  was  of  short  statue — his  monument  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Cracow  gives  us  a  life-like  representation 
of  him. 

Ladislaus,  his  son,  although  a  mere  youth,  was  also 
elected  King  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary.  But  going 
on  an  expedition  against  the  Turks,  then  more  and 
rnore  encroaching  upon  the  Eastern  Empire,  he  was 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Varna  in  1444.  During  his 
reign  the  country  had  chiefly  been  ruled  by  the 
powerful  ecclesiastic  Zbigniew  Olesnicki  (t  1454), 
a  kind  of  Polish  Wolsey,  who  had   done  much  to 


THE    TREATY   OF    THORN.  55 

crush  Hussitism  among  the  Poles,  and  laboured  to 
bring  the  regal  power  into  subordination  to  the 
ecclesiastical.  He  had  urged  Ladislaus  to  undertake 
the  expedition  which  led  to  the  disaster  of  Varna. 
The  young  king  was  only  in  his  twenty-first  year, 
and  his  memory,  as  Kromer  the  historian  tells  us,  was 
long  cherished  amongst  his  countrymen,  although, 
during  his  brief  reign,  he  almost  drained  the  treasury 
to  pay  for  his  expeditions.  The  circumstances  of  his 
death  have  been  narrated  in  the  "Memoirs  of  a  Polish 
]din\ss^vy'\Pami^tHiki  Janc2ara  Polakd).  It  has  been 
shown  by  the  Bohemian  scholar  Jirecek  that  the 
author  was  a  Serb,  a  certain  Michael  Constantinovich 
from  Ostrovitsa.  He  composed  his  work  in  Poland. 
There  is  an  old  version  of  it  in  the  Bohemian 
language. 

After  a  brief  interregnum  Casimir,  brother  of  the 
deceased  king,  was  chosen  to  succeed  him  (1447-1492). 
The  Poles  still  carried  on  their  battles  with  the 
Teutonic  knights,  their  unwearied  foes.  Finally,  a 
treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at  Thorn  in  1466,  of 
which  the  terms  were  as  follows : — Western  Prussia, 
including  Pomerania  and  the  cities  of  Danzig  and 
Thorn,  among  others,  were  to  belong  to  Casimir, 
while  Eastern  Prussia  was  left  to  the  knights,  who 
were,  however,  to  hold  it  as  a  fief  of  the  crown,  and 
each  subsequent  Grand  Master  was  to  be  the  vassal 
[holdownik)  of  the  Polish  king  and  senate.  After  thf 
death  of  Ladislaus,  in  1444,  both  Bohemia  and 
Hungary  gave  up  the  union  with  Poland — an  un- 
natural one  at  best,  as  it  has  been  truly  called.  1  he 
Bohemians  elected    George   Podebrad,  one   of  their 


56  THE  EARLY  yAGIELLOS. 

wisest  kin^s  and  a  native  of  the  country;  the 
Hungarians,  Mathias  Corvinus,  the  son  of  Hunyady. 
In  1485,  Stephen  the  vojevode  of  Moldavia  was 
compelled  to  own  the  suzerainty  of  Poland. 

But  besides  her  German,  Hungarian,  and  Bohemian 
foes,  there  was  now  growing  up  contiguous  to  Poland 
the  great  Muscovite  Empire,  which  was  consolidated 
by  Ivan  HI.,  an  astute  ruler.  The  history  of  Poland 
will  henceforth  show  continual  struggles  between 
that  country  and  the  Turks  and  Tatars  in  the  south. 

The  reign  of  Casimir  IV.  was  very  important  in 
a  constitutional  point  of  view  ;  in  this  reign  the 
nobles  first  elected  deputies  (posfy)  to  attend  the  diet, 
when  they  themselves  were  unable  to  be  present.  Some 
mischievous  laws  were  also  passed  aggravating  the 
bondage  of  the  serfs.  Previously  it  was  possible  for 
a  serf  who  had  been  ill-treated  to  fly  from  his  lord  ; 
now  it  was  enacted  that  he  must  be  surrendered  on 
demand,  and  penalties  were  incurred  by  any  one  who 
harboured  him.  The  constitution  of  the  Polish 
Republic  (Rzeczpospolita,  as  it  was  called,  with  the 
accent  on  the  antepenultimate,  contrary  to  the  rule  of 
the  language)  was  now  thoroughly  established,  and 
from  this  reign  the  power  of  the  diets  began.  The 
statute  of  Nieszawa  (not  far  from  Thorn),  in  1454,  has 
been  called  the  Polish  Magna  Charta  ;  it  is  the  great 
charter  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Polish 
nobility.  Casimir  is  considered  by  many  writers  to 
have  been  an  indolent  sovereign.  During  his  reign 
Ivan  HI.  incorporated  the  old  republic  of  Novgorod 
with  Russia;  later  on  we  shall  find  Basil,  his  suc- 
cessor, getting  possession  of  Novgorod  Severski  and 


CASIMIR   IV. 


57 


Smolensk,  the  latter  so  important  from  its  strategic 
position. 

Casimir  died  at  Troki,  a  castle,  not  far  from  Wilno, 
in  1492.  His  illness  was  a  dropsy,  and  when  the 
physician  told  him  that  there  was  no  further  hope, 


THE    CATHEDRAL   AT    CRACOW    IN    ITS   ORIGINAL    FORM. 
FOURTEENTH    AND    FIFTEENTH    CENTURIES. 


he  received  the  news  very  quietly ;  ^'Morienduni  ergo]* 
was  all  that  he  replied.  He  found  time,  however, 
before  his  death  to  entreat  the  Polish  and  Lithuanian 
nobles  to  secure  the  throne  to  his  son.   In  the  opinion 


58  THE   EARLY  JAGIELLOS. 

of  some  historians,  Casimir  was  not  a  bad  king,  but 
his  virtues  were  rather  those  of  a  private  rnan  than  a 
monarch.  He  was  above  middle  stature,  with  a  long, 
thin  face,  as  we  see  represented  on  the  handsome 
monument  in  red  porphyry  erected  to  him  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Cracow.  The  sculptor  was  a  citizen  of 
Cracow  named  Wit  Stwosz,  in  which  form  some  see 
the  German  name,  Veit  Stoss.  In  his  leanness  and 
general  appearance  Casimir  reminds  us  greatly  of  his 
contemporary — our  Henry  VH.  Another  personal 
characteristic  which  we  have  of  him  is  that  he  lisped. 
His  wife  was  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Emperor 
Albert. 

Upon  the  king's  death  there  were  some  troubles 
about  the  succession.  Lithuania,  which  still  stood  in 
only  loose  relations  with  her  sister-state,  held  an 
independent  diet  and  elected  Alexander,  a  son  of 
Casimir's,  as  prince  of  Lithuania.  In  return,  Alexander 
in  1492  granted  a  privilege  whereby  the  prelates, 
princes,  barons,  and  the  nobility  and  cities  of  Lithuania 
were  to  have  all  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  the 
Polish  nobility  possessed.  As  regards  Poland  herself, 
those  who  wished  that  the  union  should  be  preserved, 
desired  to  elect  Alexander  ;  moreover  he  was  a  young 
man  of  by  no  means  energetic  character.  Others 
were  for  John  Albert  the  eldest  son,  and  some  even 
supported  the  candidature  of  Sigismund,  the  youngest. 

Duke  Janusz,  of  Masovia,  took  advantage  of  all 
this  difference  of  opinion  to  put  forward  his  own 
claims.  He  appeared  at  Piotrkow  with  a  thousand 
armed  men,  an  anticipation  of  the  warlike  retinues 
with  which  so  many  of  the  subsequent  diets  were  to 


yOHN   ALBERT  ELECTED. 


59 


be  visited.  He  based  his  claim  upon  the  fact  that 
he  was  a  direct  descendant  of  Casimir  the  Great  and 
Boleslas  the  First,  and  was  therefore  a  regular  Piast  ; 
and  not  one  of  those  Lithuanians  whose  blood  was 
only  Polish  by  feminine  descent.  The  archbishop  of 
Gnesen  vigorously  supported  his  candidature,  and  he 


SEAL   OF  JANUSZ   AND   STANISLAUS   OF   MAbOVIA,    I52O. 


might  have  been  elected  -had  not  the  old  queen 
Elizabeth  sent,  to  support  her  favourite  son  John 
Albert,  i,6oo  well-armed  horsemen.  On  the  27th  of 
August  he  was  accordingly  elected  king,  and  crowned 
the  23rd  of  September  following* 


60  THE  EARLY  yAGIELLOS. 

Both  brothers,  however,  in  their  respective  do- 
minions showed  themselves  weak  sovereigns.  At  the 
diet  at  Piotrkow  in  1496,  John  Albert  made  some 
surprising  concessions  to  the  nobility  who  were  now 
becoming  masters  of  the  kingdom.  Not  only  were 
their  former  privileges  renewed,  but  the  king's 
judicial  rights  and  those  connected  with  taxation 
were  limited  and  the  peasants  were  completely  bound 
to  the  soil.  The  laws  already  existing  about  the  sur- 
render of  fugitive  serfs  were  extended  and  made  to 
apply  to  the  children  of  plebeians  {plebejorum):  not 
more  than  one  must  be  allowed  to  go  to  the  towns  to 
study  or  practise  a  trade,  and  where  only  one  son  was 
born  to  his  parents,  he  must  stay  to  perform  his  work 
on  the  land.  There  were  special  clauses  enacted  against 
the  Kmetons  wearing  better  clothes,  &c.,  than  befitted 
their  class.  In  illustration  of  these  enactments  Dr. 
Schiemann  cites  the  articles  "  De  knietJiomun  missione, 
de  fugitivis  kniethonibus,  de  filiis  kmethonum,  de 
kmethonuni  debitis  apud  cives  con  tract  is"  We  have 
such  expressions  as  the  following: — ^^ Item  propter 
deordinationeni  kniethoimm,  videlicet  nulla  lege  adstricti 
quidam  eoriim  in  superbias  efferuntiir,  pretiosis  vesti- 
iintur,  expensasqiie  sumptuosas  et  alia  facitmt,  qiice 
illornm  conditioni  minime  cotiveniunt^  sicqiie  debita 
inter  cives  contrahiint  excedentes  kmethonalia"  We 
see,  all  things  considered,  that  the  Polish  peasant 
was  up  to  this  time  in  a  fair  way  to  prosperity.  W^e 
may  date  his  real  bondage  from  this  hateful  statute. 
No  burgher  or  peasant  was  eligible  to  any  of  the 
higher  offices  of  the  Church;  the  peasantry  were 
obliged  to  bring  all  legal  matters  in  which  they  were 


BUONACORSL  6l 

concerned  before  tribunals  presided  over  by  their 
own  masters  ;  they  were  also  forbidden  to  possess 
any  landed  property.  The  following  are  the  exact 
words  of  this  famous  enactment : — "  Statuinms  quod 
civibus  et  plebeis  undecunqiie  existentibus  oppida,  villas, 
prcedia  et  bona  alia  juri  terreste  supposita  em  ere,  tenere 
possidereqiie  perpettio  vel  obligatorio  modo  liceat  miriime 
.  .  .  et  quod  illi  qui  Jam  in  effectu  bona  terrestria 
occuparunt,  ilia  hinc  ad  decursum  temporis  quod  com- 
mode istud  facere  possent  vendere  teneantur  sub  poenis 
quas  ex  illis  secus  facientibus  juxta  arbitrium  nostrum 
et  Palatinum  Terrce,  in  quo  ilia  consistunt,  exacturi 
sumus  irre^nissibilitery  The  king  was  neither  to  enact 
any  laws  nor  to  declare  war  without  the  consent  of 
the  diet.  We  see  the  pacta  conventa  in  a  gradual 
state  of  formation. 

John  Albert  was  defeated  in  1497  in  an  expedition 
against  Stephen  the  Hospodar  of  Moldavia.  Upon 
this  disaster  a  song  was  composed,  which  has  been 
preserved  by  the  chronicler,  Bielski.  Two  of  the 
lines  were — 

**Zakr6]a01brachta 
Wyginela  szlachta." 
("  The  nobility  perished  for  King  Albert  ").=' 

Besides  this  catastrophe  his  kingdom  was  constantly 
invaded  by  Turks  and  Tatars.  The  king  was  some- 
what assisted  against  the  encroachments  of  the  nobles 
by  an  Italian  named  Buonacorsi,  who  had  been  his 
tutor,  and  continued  to  act  as  his  adviser.  This  astute 
man  co  nselled  the  king  to  labour  to  make  himself 
absolute  ruler.       It  was  to  Buonacorsi  and  his  advice 

*  See  Nehring,  Altpolnischer  Sprachdenkindler^  217. 


ALEXANDER,  63 

that  the  disaffected  portion  of  his  subjects  were  will- 
ing to  attribute  the  disaster  in  the  Bnkoviua  in  1497. 
In  1 501  the  king  died  of  an  apoplectic  stroke  at 
Thorn  ;  he  was  on  the  point  of  undertaking  an  expe- 
dition against  the  Teutonic  knights. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Alexander,  who 
had  married  Helen,  a  daughter  of  Ivan  III.,  of  Russia. 
Her  mother  was  the  celebrated  Sophia  Paleologa, 
whose  marriage  with  Ivan  seemed  to  make  him  the 
heir  of  the  Byzantine  Empire.  This  astute  sovereign, 
who  reigned  forty-three  years,  was  the  real  founder 
of  the  greatness  of  Russia.  By  more  than  two 
centuries  he  anticipated  the  bold  plans  of  Peter  the 
Great.  He  was  fonder  of  diplomacy  and  valuable 
alliances  than  of  war.  We  have  already  seen  how 
weak  was.  the  union  between  Poland  and  Lithuania. 
Ivan  did  not  lose  sight  of  the  grand  duchy,  which 
contained  so  many  subjects  of  the  same  blood  and 
language  as  his  own.  Circumstances  favoured  him. 
The  Grand  Duke  Alexander  was  a  timid  man,  and 
thought  that  an  alliance  with  his  powerful  neighbour 
might  protect  him  from  the  incursions  of  the  Hos- 
podar  of  Moldavia  and  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea,  from 
which  he  was  continually  suffering.  He  therefore 
entered  into  negotiations  with  a'  view  to  marrying 
the  eldest  daughter  of  Ivan.  It  need  hardly  be  said 
that  the  latter  was  ready  to  accept  his  overtures. 
The  only  difficulty  that  presented  itself  was  the 
religious  one.  Alexander  was  a  Roman  Catholic, 
and  Helen  belonged  to  the  Orthodox  Church.  Ivan 
succeeded,  however,  in  securing  for  his  daughter  the 
free   exercise   of  her    religion,  to  which   Alexander 


64  THE  EARLY  yAGIELLOS. 

agreed  by  a  clause  in  the  treaty,  signed  Oct.  26,  1494. 
At  Wilno,  a  Russian  church  was  to  be  erected  by 
the  side  of  the  ducal  palace  ;  and  in  that  city  the 
marriage  was  celebrated  with  great  pomp  on  Jan. 
18,  1495.  Matters  were  not  so  easily  settled  with 
the  Pope,  to  whom  an  ambassador  was  despatched. 
The  Poles  were  always  great  in  embassies,  and  we 
read  of  the  universal  curiosity  which  this  one 
aroused.  The  Pope,  Alexander  VI.,  a  noted  person 
in  ecclesiastical  annals,  put  a  disagreeable  alternative 
before  the  Grand  Duke.  Helen  was  either  to  be 
repudiated  or  converted.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
unfortunate  wife  was  continually  having  lectures 
from  Ivan,  to  which  Sophia  added  her  maternal 
exhortations.  Helen  in  her  letters  would  not  allow 
that  she  was  undergoing  any  persecution ,  from  her 
husband.  Finally,  Ivan  quarrelled  with  his  son-in- 
law,  and  war  broke  out  between  them.  It  was  not, 
however,  productive  of  any  great  results,  with  the 
exception  of  the  battle  of  Wedrosza,  on  the  14th  of 
July,  1500,  where  the  Russians  obtained  an  im- 
portant victory,  killing  a  great  number  of  their 
adversaries.  Soon  after  Alexander  was  elected  to 
the  Polish  throne  Helen  used  her  influence  to  effect 
a  reconciliation  between  her  father  and  husband,  and 
a  truce  for  six  years  was  signed  from  March  25, 
1503,  to  March  25,  1509.  In  this  truce  Ivan  de- 
manded fresh  guarantees  that  the  faith  of  his 
daughter  should  not  be  disturbed.  Julius  II.,  who 
succeeded  Borgia,  began  anew  to  direct  the  papal 
thunders  against  the  perplexed  Alexander,  but  he 
would  not  quarrel    with   his  wife,   and    he   did    not 


THE   DIET   OF  RADOM.  65 

succeed  in  converting  her.  Helen  seems  to  have 
been  sincerely  attached  to  her  husband.  She  died 
at  Wihio  in  15 13.  A  great  deal  of  fresh  light  has 
been  thrown  upon  the  reign  of  Ivan  and  his  relations 
to  Roman  Catholicism  by  the  researches  of  Father 
Pierling  (see  especially  La  Russie  et  V  Orient,  Paris, 
1891). 

The  nobility  in  this  reign  endeavoured  to  force  such 
concessions  from  the  king  that  he  would  have  become 
merely  the  president  of  the  senate,  and  the  entire 
government  would  have  been  in  their  hands.  Alex- 
ander appeared  to  consent,  but  retired  to  Lithuania, 
and  on  his  return  was  able  to  annul  his  concessions. 
In  his  reiL,Mi,  however,  we  trace  the  germ  of  \\\^  liberum 
veto.  In  a  diet  held  at  Radom,  in  1505,  it  was  settled 
that  the  decision  of  the  deputies  was  not  to  depend 
upon  the  majority,  but  must  imply  unanimity.  This 
seems  to  have  been  a  great  element  in  the  old 
Slavonic  assemblies,  and  has  been  shown  to  have 
prevailed  in  the  Russian  sobori.  At  this  diet  it  was 
enacted  in  the  name  of  the  king  :  "  Nihil  novi  constitui 
debet  per  nos  et  successores  nostras  sine  communi 
consilionim  et  nuntiorum  terrestimn  consensu.''  The 
diet  of  Radom,  which  lasted  from  March  23rd  to 
May  29th,  is  justly  considered  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant in  the  history  of  the  country.  The  whole 
legislative  power  of  the  country  seemed  to  pass  into 
the  hands  of  the  Polish  nobility,  whom  the  fiction  of 
the  time  considered  to  be  the  Polish  people. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  memorable  diet  the  kin"" 
had  some  disagreeable  discussions  with  the  Lithuanian 
magnates.     Alexander  was  in  such  anger  at  the  lan- 

6 


66  THE  EARLY  JAGIELLOS. 

guage  which  they  used  that  he  had  an  apoplectic 
stroke.  To  increase  his  trouble,  news  was  brought 
that  the  Tatars  had  made  an  incursion  into  Lithu- 
ania, and  carried  off  100,000  prisoners.  They  were 
however,  overtaken  by  the  Lithuanian  commander, 
Michael  Glinski,  and  defeated  at  Kleck.  News  of 
this  victory  was  brought  to  the  king,  already  on  his 
death-bed.  He  died  at  Thorn  on  August  19,  1506. 
Alexander  is  described  by  his  contemporaries  as  a 
dull-witted  man  ;  he  was  lavish  in  his  gifts,  and 
many  of  them  were  revoked  after  his  death  by  the 
diet  by  means  of  the  so-called  Statiitum  Alexan- 
drinum. 

We  now  pass  from  the  reigns  of  the  early  Jagiellos  ; 
the  period  of  the  Middle  Ages  has  ceased  in  Euro- 
pean history.  Modern  history,  with  other  influences, 
has  begun.  We  shall  soon  see  how  Poland  stood 
towards  these  new  influences  ;  the  Reformation,  the 
growth  of  the  burgher  class,  and  others.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century  we  find  her  governed 
by  an  oligarchy  of  nobles,  who  are  continually  en- 
croaching upon  the  power  of  the  Crown.  There  is 
no  national  middle  class  ;  the  burghers  are  Germans 
or  Jews  ;  the  peasantry  have  lost  all  their  privileges, 
and  are  bound  to  the  soil,  with  no  rights  against  the 
tyranny  or  caprice  of  their  masters.  Nothing  of  what 
may  be  called  a  national  literature  has  been  deve- 
loped ;  the  authors,  who  have  appeared,  are  eccle- 
siastics, and  write  in  Latin,  just  as  our  own  early 
historians  did.  Mention  will  be  made  of  Callus, 
Kadlubek,  Dlugosz,  Kromer,  and  others  in  their 
proper  place.      The   ballads  and    popular  songs   are 


CLEMENT  THE  SMITH.  67 

lost ;  we  know  that  they  must  have  existed  at  one 
time  by  the  titles  of  some  which  have  been  preserved. 
One  poem,  if  it  is  worthy  of  the  name,  has  come 
down  in  a  manuscript  of  the  Zamojski  Library  at 
Warsaw,  and  has  been  printed  by  Professor  Nehring 
in  his  Altpolnischer  Sprachdeukmdler  (Berlin,  1887).  It 
describes  an  event  of  the  year  1461,  which  shall  be 
briefly  narrated  here,  as  it  belongs  to  the  period 
which  we  are  discussing,  and  is  valuable  as  helping 
us  to  understand  the  manners  of  the  time. 

In  that  year,  the  Castellan  of  Cracow,  Jan 
T^czynski,  the  member  of  a  family  well  known  in 
Poland,  had  refused  to  accompany  the  king  on  one 
of  his  military  expeditions  against  the  Teutonic 
knights.  His  brother  Andrew,  however,  was  willing 
to  do  so.  As  his  armour  was  not  in  proper  condition, 
he  committed  it  to  the  care  of  the  armourer,  Clement, 
in  Cracow,  to  be  repaired.  The  work  was  finished, 
and  Andrew  went  himself  to  the  smith's  shop  to 
fetch  it.  Master  Clement  asked  two  gulden  for  the 
repairs.  Andrew  offered  a  fourth  part  of  the  sum, 
eighteen  groschen.  The  smith  stood  firm  to  his 
price,  and  the  angry  nobleman  thereupon  boxed  the 
armourer's  ears  in  his  own  house.  Nay,  more,  Andrew 
T^czynski  betook  himself  at  once  to  the  Rathhaus, 
and  brought  a  charge  against  the  smith  on  account 
of  the  armour,  admitting  at  the  same  time  that  he  had 
assaulted  him.  The  Council  bade  Andrew  wait,  and 
sent  a  beadle  for  the  smith,  but  the  nobleman  grew 
impatient,  left  the  Town-hall,  and  stood  with  his 
friends  opposite  the  house  of  one  of  the  councillors 
when    Master  Clement  was  oroino;  to  the  Town -hall 


68  THE  EARLY  JAGIELLOS, 

with  the  beadle.  "  Sir,"  called  out  the  smith  to  the 
nobleman,  "you  have  beaten  me  shamefully  in  my 
own  house,  and  boxed  my  ears  ;  now  you  will  get 
the  worst  of  it !  "  Thereupon  Andrew  T^czynski,  his 
son,  and  retainers  fell  upon  the  smith,  and  severely 
chastised  him  in  the  public  street.  A  loud  cry  was 
now  raised,  the  bell  of  the  city  was  rung,  and  the 
mob  rushed  in  pursuit  of  T^czynski,  who  at  first 
took  refuge  in  the  house  of  a  tax-collector,  and  after- 
wards in  a  church,  where  he  was  murdered.  This 
event  occurred  on  July  i6,  146 1.  To  this,  Dlugosz 
adds,  that  the  body  of  T^czynski  was  dragged 
through  the  streets,  and  left  lying  there  for  three 
days.  But  his  narrative  is  suspected  of  exaggera- 
tion, as  he  was  on  intimate  terms  with  members 
of  the  T^czynski  family  The  king  (Casimir),  in 
his  camp  at  Inowroclaw,  w^as  only  able  to  appease 
the  nobility  for  the  insult  offered  to  their  order  by 
promising  a  speedy  punishment  of  the  guilty  parties 
on  his  return  to  the  city.  Meanwhile  Clement,  the 
smith,  had  prudently  escaped  from  Cracow.  John, 
the  brother  of  Andrew,  pointed  out  nine  citizens 
as  guilty — the  burgomaster,  three  councillors,  and 
five  members  of  the  corporation.  All  the  evidence 
showed  these  men  to  be  innocent.  Three  were  at 
last  released,  but  the  remaining  six  were  con- 
demned to  death,  and,  after  having  been  kept 
some  days  in  one  of  the  towers  of  the  castle,  were 
executed  privately  in  that  which  overlooks  the 
Vistula,  which  has  since  been  called  the  T^czynski 
tower.  The  aristocratic  party  appear  to  have  been 
afraid  to  have  them  put    to   death    in    the   market- 


I 


A   CRUEL  ARISTOCRACY.  6g 

place.     Even  contemporary  writers  style  it  judkiuni 
crudelisslninin  et  iniqini.'n. 

The  whole  proceeding  reminds  us  of  a  sanguinary 
episode  which  we  shall  be  compelled  tu  mention 
lurther  on — the  tragedy  of  Thorn  in  1724.  Here, 
again,  we  have  an  aristocracy  with  unreasonable 
privileges  in  collision  with  peaceful  citizens,  and 
using  its  power  in  a  cruel  way.  There  was  nothing 
in  the  book  of  fate  for  such  privileged  tyrants  but 
ruin,  and,  however  much  we  may  lament  the  fate  of 
Poland  as  a  nation,  it  is  impossible  to  feel  great  regret 
for  the  calamities  which  overcame  her  nobility. 


VII. 


THE    JAGIELLOS.      SIGTSMUND   I.    (1507-I548),    SIGTS- 
MUND       II.,      AUGUSTUS       (1548-1572).  THE 

ELECTED      SOVEREIGNS,      HENRY      OF      VALOIS 
(I  574-1 575),  AND  STEPHEN  BATORY  (l  576-1 586). 


SiGlSMUND,  who  succeeded  in  1507,  was  youngest 
son  of  Casimir  IV.,  and  was  born  in  1467  ;  he  was 
therefore  forty  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  acces- 
sion. His  reign  coincides,  to  a  great  extent,  with 
that  of  our  Henry  VHI.  He  appears  to  have  been 
a  man  of  feeble  character,  who  contrived  to  steer 
tolerably  clear  of  the  difficulties  surrounding  him, 
but  had  no  bold  or  original  ideas.  During  his  reign 
there  were  troubles  with  Tatar  and  Turk,  and  espe- 
cially with  Russia.  The  old  domestic  feud  of  the 
two  Slavonic  nations,  as  Pushkin  called  it,  was  begin- 
ning to  develop  itself;  henceforth  we  shall  find  them 
engaged  in  constant  struggles.  The  contrast  between 
them  was,  in  many  respects,  a  sharp  one.  Poland 
was  governed  by  an  oligarchy  of  nobles  ;  Russia 
obeyed  the  uncontrolled  authority  of  an  autocrat. 
In  Russia  the  condition  of  the  peasantry,  bad  as  it 
was,  possessed  some  redeeming  features ;  she  had  the 


SIGISMUND  I. 


72  THE  yAGIELLOS. 

mir  and  the  possession  of  land  guaranteed  to  the 
village  community,  whereas  whatever  traces  Poland 
once  possessed  of  this  old  Aryan  tenure  had  long 
disappeared.  Moreover,  even  though  the  burghers  in 
Russia  were  not  summoned  to  the  dunia,  they  made 
their  appearance  in  the  sobor ;  but  we  never  hear  in 
Poland  of  any  of  the  burghers  being  summoned  to 
the  diets. 

Sigismund  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife,  of 
whom  we  hear  but  little,  was  Barbara  Zapolya,  sister 
of  the  celebrated  John  Zapolya,  who  attempted  to 
get  the  crown  of  Hungary;  she  died  in  15 15.  His 
second  wife  was  Bona  Sforza,  a  daughter  of  one 
of  the  dukes  of  Milan,  who  made  herself  thoroughly 
hated  in  her  adopted  country  on  account  of  her 
intrigues  and  avarice.  Upon  her  was  composed  the 
epigram  : — 

*'  vSi  parcunt  Parcse,  si  luci  lumine  lucent, 
Si  bellum  bellum,  turn  bona  Bona  fuit." 

When  she  left  the  country  after  her  husband's  death, 
she  carried  away  large  sums  of  money  to  Italy,  where 
she  died  in  1558.  The  only  beneficial  effect  she  can 
be  said  to  have  had  upon  the  country  was  the  intro- 
duction of  painters  and  artists  of  various  kinds,  who 
made  the  somewhat  barbarous  Court  of  Poland  more 
elegant.  It  is  in  this  way  that  we  must  explain  the 
existence  of  some  beautiful  missals,  once  illuminated 
for  the  use  of  Sigismund  and  emblazoned  with  the 
Polish  arms — such  as  that  preserved  in  the  Bodleian 
Library. 

In  1524  Albert,  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Teutonic 


ALBERT  OF   BRANDENBURG. 


74  THE   yAGIELLOS. 

knights  and  ruler  of  Eastern  Prussia,  who  was  the 
nephew  of  Sigismund,  accepted  the  Lutheran  reH- 
gion  and  his  dominions  were  secularised  ;  he  still, 
however,  acknowledged  the  suzerainty  of  Poland. 
On  the  25th  of  April  he  appeared  in  Cracow,  still 
decorated  with  the  black  cross  of  his  order,  and  made 
his  peace  with  Poland  as  Duke  of  Prussia.  The 
terms  of  the  concession  were  agreed  upon  and  in 
the  market-place  of  the  city  the  new  duke  tendered 
the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  king.  We  shall  find  this 
supremacy  resigned  by  Poland,  by  the  treaty  of 
Wehlau  in  1666  (a  small  town  not  far  from  Konigs- 
berg)  ;  in  1701  Prussia,  under  the  Great  Elector, 
became  a  kingdom. 

The  reformed  doctrines  soon  made  their  appear- 
ance in  the  country,  and  Sigismund  adopted  a  timid 
policy  with  regard  to  them.  At  Danzig  they  became 
very  prominent.  The  king  made  his  entry  into  the 
city,  and  attempted  to  put  the  movement  down.  At 
first  he  temporised  with  the  powerful  faction  which 
had  adopted  Lutheranism  ;  but  as  the  Roman 
Catholic  nobles  poured  in  greater  numbers  with  their 
forces  into  the  city  he  became  bolder,  and  ordered 
Salicetus,  a  prominent  citizen,  and  twenty  of  the 
principal  leaders  to  be  arrested.  Of  these,  fifteen, 
including  Salicetus — in  spite  of  an  eloquent  speech 
which  he  made  in  his  defence — were  put  to  death 
and  the  rest  exiled.  The  king  left  Danzig  in  1526, 
but  he  had  not  succeeded  in  stamping  out  the  new 
doctrines  there  and  they  rapidly  spread  to  Thorn, 
Elbing  (Elbl^g),  and  other  places.  The  anachronistic 
government  of  Poland  was  unable  to  deal  with  the 


CHRI; 


o.  UTING     WITH     THE     DOCTORS— WITH     FIGURES  OF 
"siGISMUND  AND   HUSSITES    INTRODUCED. 


76  THE   JAGIELLOS, 

civil  life  in  these  important  towns,  and  we  shall, 
therefore,  not  be  surprised  at  seeing  them  gradually 
estranged  from  her,  and  ready,  when  the  occasion 
came,  to  transfer  themselves  to  another  master.  To 
political  difficulties  religious  were  to  be  added. 

In  1537  occurred  the  first  rokosz  as  it  is  called,  or 
rebellion  of  the  nobility  against  the  king.  The  affairs 
of  Wallachia  caused  Sigismund  to  undertake  an 
expedition  against  that  country.  One  hundred  and 
fifty  nobles,  assembled  at  Lemberg,  refused  to  go  on 
the  expedition,  and  laid  their  complaints  before  the 
king.  This  rokosz  has  been  sarcastically  called 
Woyna  kokosza,  or  the  war  against  the  fowls,  because 
the  only  slaughter  which  took  place  was  that  of  the 
poultry  at  Lemberg.  Perhaps  the  similarity  of  the 
words  rokosz  and  kokosz  may  have  helped  the  phrase. 

The  Lithuanians  had  not  become  fully  reconciled 
to  their  union  with  Poland,  and  Gliriski,  one  of  their 
leading  men,  attempted  to  make  it  again  independent, 
and  on  failing  in  his  object  fled  to  Russia,  where  he 
was  warmly  received,  and  persuaded  the  Grand  Duke 
to  invade  Lithuania.  The  Russians  got  possession  of 
Smolensk  in  15 14,  but  suffered  a  defeat  at  Orsha  the 
same  year,  at  the  hands  of  the  Polish  commander 
Ostrozski.  Smolensk  is  one  of  the  border  cities 
which  we  shall  find  continually  changing  hands. 
The  Poles  regained  it  by  the  treaty  of  Deiilino,  in 
16 1 8,  but  the  Russians  acquired  it  for  good  in  1667. 
In  1526,  by  the  death  of  the  last  of  the  dukes  of 
Masovia  (Masowsze),  this  duchy  was  reunited  to  the 
crown  of  Poland.  In  1533  Sigismund  concluded  a 
treaty   with    the    Turks,    which    was    important    as 


COPERNICUS.  77 

securing  his  southern  provinces  from  invasion.  Po- 
land was  now  in  a  very  prosperous  condition,  and 
a  lustre  was  cast  upon  her  by  the  genius  of  the  great 
Copernicus,  a  native  of  Thorn  (1473-1543).  In  1529 
Sigismund  published  his  code  of  laws  for  Lithuania, 
which  was  issued  in  the  White  Russian  language. 
The  king  died  at  Cracow  in  the  year  1548,  and  lies 
buried  in  the  cathedral  of  that  city,  so  rich  in  historical 
monuments.  His  reign  was  an  important  one  for  the 
country,  in  spite  of  his  own  weakness  of  character. 
We  have  seen  the  great  spread  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformation,  at  first  in  those  parts  of  the  country 
which  bordered  upon  Germany  ;  later  in  Little  Po- 
land and  Lithuania.  According  to  Professor  Kallen- 
bach  (Les  Htimanistes  Polonais,  Fribourg,  1891),  its 
growth  was  much  assisted  by  what  might  almost  be 
called  the  social  reorganisation  of  the  State.  The 
Polish  nobility,  encouraged  by  the  great  privileges 
which  had  been  granted  to  them  had  now  for  their 
chief  objects  the  subjugation  of  the  towns  and  peasants. 
We  have  seen  how  the  Polish  burgher  and  peasant 
had,  till  the  earlier  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  been 
free,  comparatively  speaking.  Since  that  time  they 
had  been  gradually  sinking.  By  the  peace  of  Thorn 
in  1466,  Poland  regained  the  mouth  of  the  Vistula. 
This  outlet  to  the  Baltic  developed  greatly  the  trade 
in  wheat  and  timber — the  two  natural  sources  of 
wealth  in  the  country.  The  cultivation  of  the  land, 
which  up  to  that  time  had  been  of  moderate  importance 
and  proportioned  to  the  wants  of  the  inhabitants,  now 
rapidly  increased,  so  that  grain  might  be  furnished 
for  exportation.  The  Polish  noble  became  transformed 


LUXURY   OF    THE   NOBLES.  79 

into  an  agriculturist,  whose  only  care  was  to  get  as 
great  a  harvest  as  possible  from  his  fields.  He  wanted 
plenty  of  hands  to  work,  and  thus,  from  economic 
causes,  the  peasants  were  more  and  more  employed 
upon  his  lands.  Soon  the  corvee  of  the  serfs,  sanc- 
tioned by  various  diets,  became  one  of  the  chief 
sources  of  the  wealth  of  the  nobles.  In  this  way 
great  changes  were  brought  about  in  the  country, 
and  the  Polish  nobility,  who  up  to  the  fifteenth 
century  had  lived  frugally,  became  rich  and  luxu- 
rious. At  that  period  only  the  sons  of  the  wealthier 
magnates  had  been  able  to  pursue  their  studies  in 
foreign  countries  ;  but  in  the  sixteenth,  the  children 
of  the  smaller  gentry  began  to  visit  the  universities 
of  other  lands.  This  change  in  Polish  habits  of  life  is 
amply  borne  testimony  to  by  the  historian  Kromer, 
who  writes  as  follows  in  his  funeral  oration  on  King 
Sigismund  I.,  pronounced  in  1548: — '^  Testantur  id 
tantce  opes  et  facilitates  Jiotninum  nostrorum,  tain  opii- 
lenta  cum  externis  commercia^  tanttis  splendor  ne  dicam 
InxiiSy  tanta  elegantia  turn  in  csdificiis  et  victii  cidtuque 
corporis,  turn  in  sermone  et  inoribits^  quanta  nunquam 
ante  Jiunc  regent  in  Po Ionia  fuitT 

In  1534  Sigismund  I.  attempted  to  hinder  the  Polish 
youth  from  studying  at  foreign  universities.  This  order, 
however,  he  was  obliged  to  cancel  in  1543,  on  account 
of  the  decay  of  the  University  of  Cracow,  which  was 
obstinately  attached  to  the  ancient  system  of  educa- 
tion. The  professors  were  mostly  men  of  humble 
origin,  who  received  miserable  stipends.  To  this 
must  be  added  the  indifference  with  which  the 
nobility   regarded  the  university,  which  appeared  to 


SIGISMUND   AUGUSTUS. 


THE    UNIVERSITY   OF   CRACOW. 


8l 


them   a  mere    middle-class    institution    and    nothing 
more.     To  prove   his   good-will    to  it,  and  yielding 


SEAL  OF   SIGISMUND    I.   AS    DUKE  OF  GLOGAU. 

somewhat  to  the  prejudices  of  the  time,  Sigismund  in 
1535  ennobled  all  the  doctors,  masters,  and  professors 


GOLD   PIECE  OF   TEN    DUCATS  OF   SIGISMUND   AUGUSTUS. 


of  the  university,  uttering  the  following  grand  words, 
as  Professor  Kallenbach  rightly  styles  them,  "  Satius 

7 


82  THE   JAGIELLOS. 

enim  est  gestis  proprns  florere  quani  majorum  opinione 
uti  nee  minor  nobilitas  est  ea  qtice  propriis  virtutibus 
comparatury  In  judging  of  Sigismund  we  ought 
always  to  remember  to  his  credit  that  he  was  capable 
of  such  language. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  of  the  same  name, 
generally  called  Sigismund  Augustus.  The  first  wife 
of  the  new  king  had  been  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the 
German  Emperor,  Ferdinand  I.  On  her  death  he 
had  privately  married  Barbara  Radziwill,  a  member 
of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  families  of  Lithuania, 
who  had  been  left  a  widow.  On  his  accession  Sigis- 
mund avowed  his  marriage,  and  his  wife  accompanied 
him  to  Cracow,  to  his  father's  funeral.  The  nobles, 
however,  who  already  treated  their  sovereign  as  a  chief 
magistrate  and  nothing  more,  required  at  the  Diet 
of  Piotrkow  that  the  marriage  should  be  annulled, 
probably  thinking  that  the  country  would  gain  more 
by  an  alliance  with  an  imperial  or  regal  house.  But 
Sigismund,  by  sowing  discord  in  the  ranks  of  his 
opponents,  proposing,  among  other  things,  to  put  an 
end  to  pluralities  in  Church  and  State,  contrived  to 
carry  his  point.  His  wife  was  crowned  in  1550,  but 
died  within  six  months  afterwards,  not  without 
suspicion  of  having  been  poisoned  by  her  mother-in- 
law,  the  hated  Bona,  who,  perhaps,  introduced  among 
the  more  simple  northern  people,  not  only  some- 
thing of  the  taste  and  refinement  of  her  Italian 
countrymen,  but  also  their  terrible  arts  of  secret 
poisoning.  She  is  even  suspected  of  having  got  rid 
of  her  son's  first  wife  by  these  means.  Barbara,  to 
judge  by  her  portrait,  was  a  handsome,  sympathetic 


PORTRAIT  OF  ELIZABETH,   FIRST  WIFE  OF  SIGISMUND  II. 


84  THE   yAGIELLOS. 

woman,  worthy  of  a  better  fate.    But  the  Roman  poet 
has  told  us  : — 

•'  Non  bene  conveniunt  nee  in  una  sede  morantur 
Majestas  et  amor." 

The  Poles  are  said  to  have  loved  her  during  her 
short  reign,  and  she  has  been  made  the  subject  of 
many  a  graceful  lay  by  the  poets  of  her  country.  In 
three  years  Sigismund  married  again,  a  sister  of  his 
first  wife,  Catherine,  widow  of  Francis  Gonzaga, 
Duke  of  Mantua.  The  marriage,  however,  was  an 
unhappy  one,  and  Catherine  lived  apart  from  her 
husband.  He  was  anxious  to  procure  a  divorce 
from  the  Pope,  but  did  not  succeed  in  obtaining 
one.  Again  the  quarrel  between  the  Protestants, 
or  Dissidents,  as  they  were  called,  raged  fiercely 
in  Poland.  The  brother  of  Barbara,  Sigismund's 
second  wife,  was  an  enthusiastic  Protestant,  and 
had  done  much  for  the  spread  of  the  reformed 
doctrine  in  Lithuania,  where  he  had  great  influ- 
ence on  account  of  his  wealth  and  position  as 
Palatine  of  Wilno.  At  his  expense  the  first  Protes- 
tant Bible  was  printed  in  Polish  in  1563.  This  book 
has  now  become  exceedingly  scarce,  because  his  son 
was  converted  to  Romanism,  and  destroyed  every 
copy  of  his  father's  Bible  upon  which  he  could  lay  his 
hands. 

The  Court  of  Nicholas  Radziwill  at  Wilno  is 
described  very  graphically  by  the  English  ambas- 
sador to  Russia,  Jerome  Horsey.  The  account  which 
he  gives  will  enable  the  reader  to  form  an  idea  of  the 
pomp  of  a  Polish  nobleman  in  the  sixteenth  century. 


NICHOLAS   RADZIWILL,  85 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  orthography  of  Horsey  is 
very  capricious  : 

"When  I  came  to  Villna  the  chief  citie  in  Littuania, 
I  presented  myself  and  letters  pattents  from  the  Quen, 
that  declared  my  titells  and  what  I  was,  unto  the  great 
duke  viovode  Ragaville  [Radziwill],  a  prince  of  great 
excelencie,  prowes  and  power,  and  religious  protes- 
tant,  gave  me  great  respect  and  good  enterteynment  ; 
told  me,  though  I  had  nothinge  to  say  to  him  from 
the  Ouen  of  England,  yet,  he  did  so  much  honnor 
and  admire  her  excelent  vertus  and  graces,  he  would 
also  hold  me  in  the  reputacion  of  her  majesties 
ambassador  ;  which  was  som  pollacie  that  his  subjects 
\sic\  should  thincke  I  was  to  negociate  with  him. 
Toke  me  with  him  to  his  church  ;  heard  devine 
service,  sphalms,  songs,  a  sermon  and  the  sacra^ments 
ministered  according  to  the  reformed  churches  ; 
whereat  his  brother  cardinal,  Ragavill,  did  murmur. 
His  hightness  did  invite  me  to  diner,  honnored  with 
50  halberdeers  thorow  the  cittie  ;  placed  gonners  and 
his  guard  of  500  geniilmen  to  bring  me  to  his  pallace  ; 
himself  accompanied  with  many  yonge  noblemen, 
receavcd  me  upon  the  tarras  ;  brought  me  into  a 
very  larg  room  where  organes  and  singing  was,  a  long 
tabell  set  with  pallentins,  lordes  and  ladies,  himself 
under  a  cloth  of  estate.  I  was  placed  before  him  in 
the  middest  of  the  table  ;  trompetts  sound  and  kettell 
droms  roared.  The  first  service  brought  in,  ghesters 
and  poets  discourse  merily,  lowed  instruments  and 
safft  plaied  very  musically  ;  a  set  of  dwarffes  men 
and  weomen  finely  atired  came  in  with  sweet 
harmeny  still  and  mournfull  pieps  and  songs  of  art ; 


86  THE  yAGIELLOS. 

Davids  tymbrils  and  Arons  swett  soundinge  bells,  as 
the  termed  them.  The  varietie  made  the  tyme 
pleasinge  and  short.  His  hightnes  drancke  for  the 
Majesty  the  angel icall  Quen  of  England  her  health  ; 
illustrated  her  greatnes  and  graces.  The  great  princes 
and  ladyes  every  one  their  glass  of  sweet  wines  plaeged 
and  I  did  the  like  for  his  health.  Strainge  portraturs, 
lyons,  unicorns,  spread-eagels,  swans  and  other  made 
of  suger  past,  som  wines  and  spicats  in  their  bellies  to 
draw  at,  and  succets  of  all  sorts  cutt  owt  of  their 
bellies  to  tast  of;  every  one  with  his  sylver  forcke. 
To  tell  of  all  the  order  and  particuler  services,  and 
rarieties  wear  tedious  ;  well-feasted,  honnored,  and 
much  made  of,  I  was  conducted  to  my  lodginge  in 
manner  as  I  was  brought.  Had  my  letters  pattents, 
and  a  gentilman  to  conduct  me  thorow  his  countrye  ; 
with  which  I  toke  my  leave.  Some  pastymes  with 
lyons,  bulls,  and  bares,  straing\to  behold,  I  omytt  to 
recite."  1 

To  return,  however,  to  the  position  of  the  Dissi- 
dents, a  name  which  we  must  remember  was  at  first 
applied  to  all  other  sects  in  Poland  besides  the 
Roman  Catholics,  including  even  the  Orthodox 
Greek.  It  was  afterwards,  however,  limited  to  the 
Protestant  and  other  kindred  sects.  In  consequence 
of  a  riot  at  the  University,  in  which  some  of  the 
students  were  killed,  many  left  Cracow  and  went  to 
the  newly-founded  university  of  Konigsberg,  in  the 
dominions  of  Albert,  the  Duke  of  Prussia.  Konigsberg, 
although  now  a  city  as  completely  German  as  can  be 
found,  was  in  reality  of  Slavonic  origin,  having  been 
founded  by  Otakar  Premysl,  the  Bohemian  king,  in 


DUKE  ALBERT.  .  87 

1255 :  its  Slavonic  name  was  Krolewicz.  Duke  Albert 
established  the  university  in  1554,  and  at  Konigsberg 
the  first  edition  of  the  Gospels  in  Polish  and  many 
anti-Romanist  tracts  appeared.  Here  also  vi^as 
printed  that  valuable  translation  of  Luther's  Cate- 
chism into  Old  Prussian,  a  language  now  extinct. 
Duke  Albert  entertained  the  project  of  mounting  the 
throne  of  Poland  after  the  death  of  King  Sigismund, 
and  tried  by  every  means  to  make  himself  popular  in 
that    country.     He  accepted  the  dignity  of  a  Polish 


SILVER-GILT  MEDAL  OF   ALBERT  OF   BRANDENBURG. 

senator,  and  would  probably  have  succeeded  in  his 
object  had  he  not  predeceased  Sigismund,  dying  in 
1568.  His  only  son  was  a  man  of  feeble  character, 
quite  incapable  of  developing  his  father's  plans. 

Meanwhile  in  Poland  the  struggle  between  the 
Papists  and  Reformers  assumed  very  serious  dimen- 
sions. A  priest  was  burnt  to  death  for  administering 
the  sacrament  in  both  kinds,  and  a  lady  suffered  the 
same  fate  for  denying  the  real  presence.  A  large 
number  of  the  nobles  were  infected  with  the  new 
teaching,  and  some  of  the  clergy  took  wives.     Sigis- 


88  THE   yAGIELLOS. 

mund  was  disingenuous  and  inconsistent  throughout. 
He  is  supposed  to  have  been  incUned  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  Reformation,  and  even  allowed  Calvin  to 
dedicate  one  of  his  works  to  him,  and  Luther  an 
edition  of  his  German  Bible.  But  we  find  him  giving 
the  Bishops  power  to  suppress  all  heresy  with  vigour 
The  religious  question  was  debated  at  a  diet  held  at 
Wola,  near  Warsaw,  the  year  after  Sigismund's  death. 
No  religious  differences  were  to  be  settled  by  the 
sword — there  was  to  be  universal  toleration  ;  but  we 
shall  see  that  these  principles  were  not  carried  out. 
From  this  statute  we  learn  that  the  Polish  nobles 
were  supposed  to  be  masters  of  the  spiritual,  as  well 
as  the  material  condition  of  their  serfs,  for  it  was 
expressly  stated  that  their  power  over  them  was  to  be 
unlimited  "  tam  in  scecularibns  qiiani  in  spiritualibus.'' 
In  his  wars  with  Ivan  the  Terrible,  Sigismund  was 
unfortunate.  The  Russians  got  possession  of  Polotsk  ; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  Poles  conquered  Livonia  from 
the  sword-bearing  knights.  Livonia  thus  became 
divided  between  two  powerful  neighbours  ;  for  Revel 
and  a  part  of  Esthonia  were  annexed  to  Sweden,  while 
the  remainder  now  came  into  the  possession  of  Poland. 
The  Pacta  Snbjectionis^  as  they  were  called,  were  con- 
cluded on  the  28th  of  November,  1561.  All  their  poli- 
tical privileges  were  guaranteed  to  the  Livonians,  and 
they  were  to  be  allowed  to  profess  the  Protestant 
religion.  The  Grand  Master  of  the  Knights  was 
henceforth  to  be  invested  with  the  ducal  title,  and  the 
hereditary  succession  to  the  duchies  of  Courland  and 
Semigallia  was  settled  upon  his  heirs  male,  but  it 
v/as  to  be  a  fief  of  the  crown  of  Poland.     He  was  also 


STGISMUND   AUGUSTUS. 


go  THE  yAGIELLOS. 

declared  perpetual  Governor  of  all  the  rest  of  Livonia. 
Thus  the  order  of  the  sword-bearing  knights,  which 
had  existed  for  more  than  three  hundred  years,  came 
to  an  end.  Among  the  Grand  Masters,  Walter 
Plettenberg  is  especially  to  be  remembered,  having 
been  one  of  the  most  considerable  captains  of  his  age. 
In  1500  he  won  a  great  victory  over  Ivan  III.  of 
Russia  ;  almost  incredible  accounts  are  given  of  the 
number  of  the  slain. 

Sigismund  died  in  1572,  leaving  no  issue;  the 
direct  rule  of  the  Jagiellos  was  now  to  cease  in  Poland, 
but  we  shall  find  it  afterwards  continued  in  a  female 
branch.  We  have  now  the  rise  of  a  Polish  literature  ; 
the  laws  were  promulgated  in  Polish,  which  was  the 
Court  language,  although  Latin  was  occasionally  heard. 
In  1569  took  place  the  diet  of  Lublin  (in  Little  Poland), 
the  object  of  the  statute  there  enacted  was  the  closer 
union  of  Lithuania  with  Poland,  and  the  abolition  of 
"  home  rule  "  in  the  former.  The  connexion  of  the 
two  countries  up  to  the  present  time  had  not  been 
close  ;  there  were  differences  of  language  and  religion 
— especially  the  latter.  Many  prominent  Lithuanians 
had  embraced  the  reformed  doctrines,  and  many  had 
remained  adherents  of  the  Orthodox  Church.  War- 
saw was  fixed  upon  as  the  seat  of  the  diet,  on 
account  of  its  convenient  situation.  It  afterwards 
became  the  capital  of  the  country  under  Sigismund 
.II.  The  city  is  said  to  have  been  founded  by 
Konrad,  the  Duke  of  Masovia,  in  1269;  the  old 
Dukes  of  Masovia  resided  at  Czersk,  near  Warsaw. 

On  the  failure  of  the  direct  line  of  the  Jagiellos  an 
interregnum  took  place.     Four  candidates  appeared 


92  THE   JAGIELLOS. 

for  the  vacant  throne,  firstly,  Ernest,  Archduke  of 
Austria.  The  Habsburgs,  it  will  be  observed,  were 
always  attempting  to  secure  the  crown,  and  although 
they  were  unable  to  do  so,  they  contrived  as  often  as 
they  could,  to  marry  one  of  their  archduchesses  to  the 
Polish  king.  The  remaining  candidates  were  Henry 
of  Valois,  Duke  of  Anjou,  brother  of  the  French  king, 
John,  King  of  Sweden,  who  had  married  the  late 
king's  sister  Catherine,  and  Ivan  IV.  of  Russia.  The 
contest  lay  between  ^he  two  first,  the  Swedish  alli- 
ance was  not  considered  to  be  of  any  value  and  the 
Tsar  Ivan  was  too  much  disliked.  Montluc,  the  French 
ambassador  at  the  Polish  Court,  secured  the  throne  for 
his  master's  brother.  The  new  king  was  the  son  of 
Henry  II.  of  the  house  of  Valois  and  Catherine  de 
Medici,  and  was  next  in  succession  to  his  brother 
Charles  IX.,  then  reigning.  He  was  twenty-three 
years  of  age. 

The  news  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
August  24,  1572,  caused  some  of  his  future  subjects, 
many  of  whom  we  must  remember  were  Protestants, 
to  feel  a  little  uneasy,  but  their  suspicions  were  lulled, 
and  the  Polish  ambassadors  made  their  appearance  in 
Paris  to  offer  him  the  crown.  We  have  full  narra- 
tives of  this  event  from  De  Thou  and  other  writers, 
and  the  accounts  given  contain  so  many  interesting 
details,  that  we  believe  our  readers  will  be  glad  to 
have  some  of  them.  It  was  on  the  19th  of  August, 
1573,  that  the  Polish  ambassadors  charged  to  offer 
the  crown  to  the  brother  of  Charles  IX.,  reached 
Paris.  They  were  twelve  in  number,  and  in  their 
suite  might  be  reckoned  more  than  150  young  noble- 


THE   POLISH  EMBASSY,  93 

men  of  the  greatest  families  of  the  country.  The 
king  sent  to  meet  them  Francois  de  Bourbon,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Due  de  Montpensier,  the  Dues  de 
Guise,  de  Mayenne,  and  d'Aumale,  and  the  Marquises 
du  Maine  and  d'Elboeuf.  Paul  de  Foix,  member  of 
the  Privy  Council,  was  the  speaker,  and  complimented 
the  ambassadors.  They  entered  by  the  Porte  St. 
Martin  and  filled  with  their  suite  fifty  carriages,  some 
drawn  by  four  horses,  others  by  six.  The  crowds  on 
the  way  were  very  great ;  the  pavement,  the  windows, 
even  the  roofs,  were  filled  with  spectators  who  saw 
with  admiration  these  men  of  fine  stature  and  with  a 
haughty  expression  on  their  faces.  Their  caps  were 
trimmed  with  valuable  furs,  and  their  scimitars  were 
studded  with  precious  stones.  To  the  astonishment 
of  the  Parisians  they  carried  bows  and  arrows,  and 
when  their  heads  were  bared,  it  was  seen  that,  more 
Polonico^  they  were  closely  shaven  with  the  exception 
of  a  tuft.  There  was  something  very  Oriental  in  their 
loose  flowing  robes.  Such  was  the  garb  in  which  the 
Polish  sovereigns  were  in  the  habit  of  appearing 
before  their  subjects  ;  and  they  are  said  to  have  been 
indignant  with  Stanislaus  Poniatowski,  their  last 
sovereign,  for  appearing  in  French  costume.  In 
addition  to  the  robes  of  the  ambassadors,  the  splen- 
dour of  their  equipages,  and  the  rich  harness  of  their 
horses,  combined  to  form  a  strange  and  dazzling 
sight. 

On  conversing  with  the  Poles,  the  French  were 
struck  with  their  facility  in  speaking  Latin,  French, 
German,  and  Italian.  Some  of  them  even  spoke  the 
French  language  with  such  facility  that,  according  to 


94  THE   yAGIELLOS. 

a  contemporary  writer,  they  might  have  been  taken 
for  inhabitants  of  the  banks  of  the  Seine  or  the  Loire, 
rather  than  men  born  in  countries  watered  by  the 
Vistula  and  Dnieper.  The  nobility  of  the  Court  of 
Charles  IX.  were  obliged  to  blush  at  their  own 
ignorance,  for  there  were  only  two,  the  Baron  de 
Millan  and  the  Marquis  de  Castellanau  Mauvissiere, 
who  could  answer  them  in  Latin,  and  they  had  been 
expressly  sent  to  maintain  the  honour  of  their  order. 
The  other  nobles,  when  the  new-comers  spoke  to  them 
in  that  language,  could  only  reply  by  signs  or  by 
stammering. 

Two  days  after  their  arrival  the  ambassadors  had 
an  audience  of  Charles  IX.  After  kissing  hands,  the 
Bishop  of  Posen  pronounced  a  discourse  in  the  name 
of  all  of  them,  to  which  the  king  replied  that  he 
should  remember  all  his  life  the  magnificent  offer 
which  the  Poles  had  come  to  make,  at  his  recommend- 
ation, to  a  brother  whom  he  tenderly  loved  ;  and 
added  that  he  would  never  lose  any  occasion  of  tes- 
tifying his  gratitude  to  them,  so  that  not  only  Poland, 
but  that  all  the  universe  and  all  ages  should  know 
that  never  prince  had  more  friendship  for  any  nation 
than  he  would  always  feel  for  the  Poles. 

On  quitting  the  king,  the  ambassadors  went  to  the 
queen-mother,  Catherine  de  Medici,  and  other  royal 
ladies.  They  deferred  till  the  morrow  seeing  their 
new  sovereign,  wishing  to  set  a  day  apart  to  do  him 
more  complete  honour.  On  Saturday  the  22nd,  in 
the  afternoon,  they  mounted  their  horses,  clad  in  long 
robes  of  cloth  of  gold.  The  cor-tege  of  each  envoy 
went  before  him,  composed  of  young  gentlemen  all 


HENRY  AND   ZBOROWSKI,  95 

dressed  in  silk,  and  preceded  by  bearers  of  huge  iron 
maces.  The  lords  of  the  French  Court  conducted 
them  in  this  style  to  Henri  de  Valois,  wha  received 
them  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Louvre. 

After  the  letters  of  credit  had  been  read,  Konarski, 
the  Bishop  of  Posen,  made  an  address  to  Henry,  and 
finished  to  the  following  effect — that  the  king  owed  the 
crown,  which  they  had  come  to  offer  him,  to  his  merit 
alone,  and  they  did  not  doubt  that  he  would  add  to 
his  original  virtues  all  those  which  honour  and  duty 
would  soon  render  necessary  to  him.  As  to  the 
diploma  of  his  election,  they  could  not  part  with  it  till 
the  king  his  brother  and  he  had  confirmed  by  their 
oaths  all  the  articles  which  had  been  agreed  upon 
between  the  French  ambassadors  and  the  Senate  and 
Republic.  Henry  replied  in  Latin,  thanking  them 
heartily  for  the  choice  they  had  made,  and  then  gave 
the  ambassadors  his  hand  to  kiss,  whereupon  they 
departed.  Long  debates  then  took  place  about  the 
promises  made  and  signed  before  the  election  by  the 
French  diplomatists.  Henry  began  to  be  somewhat 
disgusted  with  his  foreign  crown,  when  he  saw  with 
what  energy  the  ambassadors  supported  the  conven- 
tion. This  was  carried  to  such  a  pitch  that  when  one 
of  them,  Zborowski,  was  interpellated  by  Henry  with 
reference  to  the  article  which  assured  liberty  of  con- 
science, he  cried  out :  "  I  affirm,  sire,  that  if  your 
ambassador  had  not  stipulated  that  you  would  consent 
to  this  article  you  would  never  have  been  elected  king 
of  Poland.  I  even  say  more  ;  if  you  do  not  accept 
this  clause  as  you  do  all  the  others,  3'ou  shall  never  be 
king."     Murmurs  were  already  heard  from  the  French 


^6  THE   yAGIELLOS. 

courtiers,  but  by  a  gesture  Henry  contrived  to  lull 
them,  and  was  able  to  conceal  his  displeasure  under  a 
gracious  smile. 

After  the  main  points  had  been  settled,  a  grand 
banquet  was  given  in  his  honour,  and  September  nth 
was  fixed  for  his  taking  the  oath.  The  ceremony  was 
carried  out  with  great  pomp  in  Notre  Dame.  When 
mass  had  been  said,  the  two  kings  of  France  and 
Poland  knelt  down  before  the  high  altar  and  took  an 
oath  with  their  hands  laid  upon  the  Gospels,  Henri 
de  Valois  as  sovereign  of  Poland,  and  Charles  IX.  as 
guarantee  of  the  promises  made  in  his  name  by  the 
envoys  Montluc  de  Noailles  and  Saint-Gelais. 

Three  days  afterwards  took  place  in  the  great  hall 
of  the  Palais  de  Justice  the  public  reading  of  the 
decree  of  election.  All  the  Court  and  the  great  func- 
tionaries of  State  were  present,  the  number  of  spec- 
tators is  computed  to  have  been  about  ten  thousand. 
The  ambassadors  arrived  half  an  hour  after  Charles 
IX.,  for  they  lost  no  opportunity  of  showing  their 
pride,  and  took  in  a  solemn  manner  the  decree  of 
election  from  a  silver-gilt  box  in  which  it  was  pre- 
sented. A  wrapper  of  green  velvet  enclosed  the  box, 
and  the  whole  was  contained  in  a  covering  of  cloth  of 
gold.  The  castellan  slowly  read  the  articles,  while 
two  others,  Tomicki  and  Gorka,  held  the  two  ends 
of  the  document,  which  was  sealed  with  twenty-six 
seals.  Konarski  and  Radziwill  then  spoke,  and 
when  the  chancellors  had  answered,  the  Te  Deum  was 
sung  ;  then  the  bells  were  rung  and  salvos  of  artillery 
resounded  from  all  quarters.  The  following  morn- 
ing, by  order   of  Charles    IX.,  the    new    sovereign, 


THE   BANQUET  AT   PARIS.  97 

made  a  grand  entry  into  Paris.  In  complete  armour 
and  preceded  by  the  Due  de  Guise  who  carried  the 
sceptre,  Henri  de  Valois  on  horseback  set  out  from 
the  Porte  St.  Antoine,  where  the  keys  of  the  city 
were  presented  to  him,  to  the  palace.  The  King 
of  Navarre,  afterwards  Henry  IV.,  and  the  Due 
d'Alengon,  Henry's  brother,  were  at  his  side,  and 
there  were  to  be  seen  in  the  cortege  the  other  princes 
of  the  blood,  the  ambassadors  of  the  Republic  with 
all  their  suite,  the  French  parliament  in  red  gowns, 
and  the  foreign  ministers.  Throughout  the  journey 
the  brilliant  procession  was  welcomed  by  an  immense 
crowd  with  cries  of  "  Vwe  le  roi  de  Pologne ! "  At 
certain  intervals  the  magistrates  had  caused  triumphal 
arches  to  be  erected,  ornamented  with  statues,  pictures, 
and  inscriptions,  some  in  honour  of  Poland,  others 
relating  to  the  union  of  the  two  brothers  and  the  love 
of  their  subjects. 

The  evening  of  this  remarkable  day  a  grand 
supper  in  honour  of  the  event  was  given  in  the 
Tuileries,  at  which  verses  were  recited  by  Ronsard, 
who  had  already  been  the  friend  of  Kochanowski, 
the  Polish  poet,  during  his  stay  in  Paris,  and  Dorat, 
in  honour  of  France  and  the  King  of  Poland.  The 
following  day,  Jan  Zborowski,  one  of  the  suite, 
departed  to  give  an  account  to  the  Polish  Senate  of 
what  had  taken  place,  and  to  announce  the  speedy 
arrival  of  the  new  sovereign.  In  a  discourse 
addressed  to  Zamojski,  and  afterwards  published, 
the  celebrated  PVench  lawyer,  Baudoin,  spoke  of  this 
embassy  as  the  most  splendid  which  had  ever  been 
sent  by  any  nation.     We  shall  soon  see  what  a  poor 

S 


98  THE  yAGIELLOS. 

result    was    to    follow     upon     all     these     gorgeous 
pageants 

And  here  it  may  be  as  well  to  give  the  pacfa  con- 
venta,  as  they  were  called,  which  were  signed  by  the 
new  king.     The  chief  were  as  follows  : — 

1.  The  king  was  to  have  no  voice  in  the  election 
of  his  successor. 

2.  He  was  to  adhere  to  the  terms  granted  to  the 
Dissidents — under  which  we  must  remember  that  all 
non-Catholics  were  included.  This  clause  had  been 
particularly  odious  to  Henri,  and  he  expected  to  be 
able  to  evade  it. 

3.  War  was  not  to  be  declared,  nor  a  military 
expedition  undertaken,  without  the  consent  of  the 
diet. 

4.  No  taxes  were  to  be  imposed  without  the 
consent  of  the  diet. 

5.  The  sovereign  was  to  have  a  permanent  council 
consisting  of  five  bishops,  four  palatines,  and  eight 
castellans,  who  were  to  be  changed  every  year  and 
elected  by  the  diet. 

6.  A  general  diet  was  to  be  convoked  every  two 
years,  or  oftener  if  it  was  necessary. 

7.  The  duration  of  each  diet  was  not  to  exceed 
six  weeks. 

8.  No  foreigner  could  hold  any  public  office. 

9.  The  king  must  neither  marry  nor  divorce  a 
wife  without  the  consent  of  the  diet. 

These  conditions  were  in  some  respects  galling, 
but  the  king  had  an  ample  revenue  and  considerable 
power  when  he  commanded  an  army  in  the  field. 

Montluc,  besides   these  stipulations,  promised   for 


HENRI   DE   VALOIS. 


100  THE   JAGIELLOS, 

his  sovereign  that  France  should  send  a  fleet  into  the 
Baltic  to  assist  the  Poles,  and  should  furnish  money 
and  men  for  any  wars  which  the  Poles  might  wage 
against  their  neighbours.  We  have  no  space  to 
describe  the  arrival  of  Henry  at  Cracow,  where  he 
was  crowned  on  February  21,  1574;  but  his  reign 
is  calculated  by  the  Polish  historians  as  lasting  five 
months  only,  and  was  marked  by  only  one  con- 
spicuous event — the  murder  of  the  Castellan  Wa- 
powski  by  Samuel  Zborowski,  a  rich  and  insolent 
young  man,  in  the  palace,  and,  as  it  were,  under  the 
very  eyes  of  the  king.  Henry,  however,  only 
banished  Zborowski,  who  had  been  one  of  those  who 
favoured  his  election,  and  when  soon  afterwards  the 
palatinate  of  Cracow  became  vacant  it  was  conferred 
upon  the  assassin's  brother.  The  nobility  resented 
this  murder  of  one  of  their  own  order,  which  of 
course  they  regarded  as  a  very  different  matter  from 
the  death  of  a  Cracow  burgher. 

The  effeminate  king  soon  grew  weary  of  the  tur- 
bulent people  among  whom  he  had  cast  his  lot,  so 
inferior  in  most  respects  to  the  agreeable  Parisians 
whom  he  had  left  behind.  He  buried  himself  in  his 
palace,  and  led  a  life  of  pleasure.  His  secretary, 
Desportes,  who  accompanied  him  to  Poland,  seems 
to  have  been  of  the  same  opinion  as  his  master: 


"Adieu,  Poloigne,  adieu  plaines  desertes, 
Tousiours  de  niege  et  de  glace  couvertes  ; 
Adieu,  pays  d'un  ^ternel  adieu. 
Ton  air,  tes  moeurs  m'ont  si  fort  S9eu  desplaire, 
Qu'il  faudra  bien  que  tout  me  soit  contraire, 
Si  jamais  plus  je  retourne  en  ce  lieu." 


FLIGHT   OF  HENRY.  lOI 

But  a  release  was  at  hand  :  by  the  death  of  his 
brother,  Charles  IX.,  he  inherited  the  French  throne. 
He  hoped  to  escape  before  the  news  had  got  noised 
abroad,  especially  as  he  had  some  fears  of  the 
ambitious  designs  of  his  brother,  the  Duke  of 
Alengon.  He  refused  to  follow  the  advice  of  some 
of  his  friends  that  he  should  convoke  a  diet  and 
solicit  permission  to  go  to  France  to  arrange  his 
affairs. 

On  the  evening  of  the  i8th  of  July  he  gave  a 
banquet  in  honour  of  Anna  Jagiellonka,  as  she  was 
called,  the  sister  of  the  late  King  Sigismund.  He 
seemed  full  of  gaiety,  and  when  the  festivities  were 
over  retired  as  usual  to  his  apartments,  but  he  was 
then  led  by  an  attendant  to  a  place  of  meeting  where 
horses  had  been  secretly  prepared,  and  with  a  few 
companions  he  rode  hurriedly  from  his  kingdom, 
hardly  slackening  rein  till  he  reached  Oswi^cim,  on 
the  borders  of  Silesia,  on  the  following  morning.  As 
soon  as  it  was  known  at  Cracow  that  the  king  had 
fled,  universal  consternation  prevailed.  The  Grand 
Chamberlain  had  rushed  to  the  king's  bedroom, 
found  the  candles  burning  as  usual  in  the  room,  the 
curtains  of  the  bed  drawn,  but  Henry  absent.  He 
thereupon  followed  in  pursuit,  attended  by  five 
hundred  horsemen.  They  soon  came  up  with  the 
king's  party,  who  had  lost  a  good  deal  of  time 
through  their  ignorance  of  the  road,  and  T^czynski, 
the  Grand  Chamberlain,  cried  out  to  his  retreating 
majesty  :  "  Serenissima  Majestas,  cur  fugis  ?  "  When 
he  felt  himself  safe  beyond  the  Polish  frontier,  Henry 
entered  into  a  parley  with  T^czynski,  who   remon- 


102  THE  JAGIELLOS. 

strated  with  him  about  the  manner  in  which  he  was 
leaving  the  kingdom,  and  recommended  him  to  return 
and  convoke  a  diet ;  this  Henry  refused  to  do,  and 
oniy  promised  in  a  vague  way  that  he  would  come 
back  as  soon  as  he  had  arranged  matters  in  Francq, 
The  Poles,  however,  saw  no  more  of  him,  and  were 
well  rid  of  such  a  worthless  man,  who  would  pro- 
bably have  been  a  ready  tool  in  the  hands  of  the 
Jesuits.     Henry  was  assassinated  in  1589. 

Jan  Kochanowski,  the  poet,  who  besides  winning 
such  a  reputation  among  his  countrymen  as  a  Polish 
poet  also  wrote  in  Latin,  has  left  some  amusing 
verses  addressed  to  the  fugitive  king  under  the  title 
Gailo  Crocitantiy  from  which  we  extract  the  following 
lines  : — 

"  Et  tamen  banc  poteras  mecum  requiescere  noctem, 
Nee  dubiis  vitam  committere,  Galle,  tenebris  ; 
State  viri,  quae  causa  fugae  ?     Non  Trinacris  haec  est 
Ora,  nee  infames  funesto  vespere  terrae  ; 
Sarmatia  est,  quam,  Galle,  fugis,  fidissima  terra 
Hospitibus." 

The  Poles  were  greatly  piqued  at  being  deserted 
in  this  fashion,  and  accordingly  assembled  at  St^zyca, 
not  far  from  Warsaw,  and  appointed  the  7th  of 
November  as  the  day  of  the  election  of  a  new  king. 
The  country,  however,  suffered  from  the  evils  of  an 
interregnum  from  the  i8th  of  July,  1574,  when  Henry 
fled,  till  the  appearance  of  another  sovereign  at 
Cracow  on  the  22nd  of  April,  1576.  Before  the 
appointment  took  place  the  Tatars  made  an  irruption 
into  the  country  and  carried  off  20,CX)0  captives. 
The  majority  of  votes  were  in  favour   of   Stephen 


BATORY   ELECTED.  I03 

Batory,  Prince  of  Transylvania,  a  renowned  soldier, 
who  was  to  marry  Anna,  the  sister  of  Sigismund.  The 
szlachta,/^'///'^  nod/esse,  wds  almost  entirely  on  the  side 
of  Batory.  The  candidate  in  opposition  to  him  was  the 
German  Emperor  Maximilian  II.,  whose  election  was 
advocated  by  some  of  the  great  families,  although 
the  House  of  Habsburg  was  never  very  popular  in 
Poland.  On  the  death  of  Sigismund  Augustus,  in 
1572,  Maximilian  had  offered  his  son  Ernest  as  a 
candidate  for  the  throne,  and  had  endeavoured  to 
gain  the  support  of  the  Dissidents.  Henry,  how- 
ever, as  we  have  seen,  was  elected.  When,  however, 
the  German  Emperor  saw  the  throne  abandoned  by 
the  French  sovereign,  he  again  put  forward  the  claims 
of  his  son  ;  but  to  his  surprise  and  vexation  was 
himself  elected  by  a  certain  number  of  the  nobles,  at 
the  head  of  whom  was  the  Primate.  Moreover,  the 
Papal  legate,  who  was  actively  engaged  in  intrigues 
to  thwart  the  Protestants,  was  anxious  that  he  should 
receive  it.  He  appears  to  have  hesitated  from  a 
dislike  to  some  of  the  terms  of  the  pacta  conventa. 
Meanwhile  Batory  hastened  to  Poland,  and  was 
crowned,  and  Maximilian,  who  had  long  been  in 
failing  health,  expired  in  the  same  year,  not  having 
attained  the  age  of  fifty.  Batory  was  now  left  with- 
out a  rival  ;  was  crowned  at  Cracow  ;  married  the 
Princess  Anna,  and  signed  the  pacta  conventa.  He 
was  obliged,  however,  to  consent  to  some  further 
diminutions  of  the  royal  power,  neither  was  he 
pleasing  to  all  his  subjects  ;  for  we  find  that  Danzig 
and  some  other  places  for  a  time  held  out  against 
him. 


5tephanv5  g 

BATHORIVs'i 


3'IEPHKN   BATORY, 


■Ir 


I 


batory's  plans.  T05 

The  new  sovereign  of  Poland  was  a  member  of 
the  ancient  family  of  the  Batorys  of  Somlyo,  in 
Transylvania.  He  had  been  brought  up  at  Gran  at 
the  court  of  the  Archbishop,  and  had  originally  been 
in  the  Austrian  service  ;  but  when  John  Zapolya 
endeavoured  to  seize  the  crown  of  Hungary,  Stephen 
joined  his  party.  On  the  death  of  the  last  of  the 
Zapolyas,  in  1571,  he  was  elected  Prince  of  Tran- 
sylvania, and  he  occupied  this  position  when  called 
to  the  throne  of  Poland. 

Stephen  was  a  vigorous  ruler,  such  as  the  country 
did  not  see  again  till  the  days  of  Sobieski.  He 
reigned  from  1576  to  1586,  and  was  able  to  check 
effectually  the  encroachments  of  Ivan  the  Terrible. 
Pskov  and  other  towns  were  taken,  but  surrendered 
at  the  peace  of  Yam  Zapolski  in  return  for  Livonia, 
of  which  the  Russians  had  got  possession.  The  chief 
agent  in  bringing  about  this  peace  was  the  Jesuit 
Possevino,  who  was  employed  by  the  Pope  in  negotia- 
tions between  Ivan  and  Stephen,  and  encouraged  the 
latter  in  his  favourite  idea  of  driving  the  Turks  out 
of  Europe.  Batory  was  willing  to  listen  to  the 
proposals  of  Possevino,  but  his  main  object  was  to 
dismember  Russia,  the  growing  power  of  v\hich  he 
viewed  with  suspicious,  and,  as  it  were,  with  pro- 
phetic eyes.  This  was  his  great  programme,  and  he 
attempted  to  justify  it  by  asserting  that  the  Musco- 
vite State  consisted  mainly  of  portions  of  territory 
belonging  to  the  principality  of  Lithuania,  which  had 
been  united  to  Poland  in  the  days  of  Jagiello.  From 
this  fate  Russia  was  only  saved  by  the  death  of  the 
Transylvanian  prince,  and  she  was  destined  to  run 


Io6  THE   yAGIELLOS, 

the  same  risk  in  the  days  of  Sigismund  III.  and 
Ladislaus  IV.  We  shall  see  that  it  was  only  the 
weakness  of  John  Casimir  and  his  successor  which 
saved  her.  Stephen  encouraged  letters  by  the  foun- 
dation of  the  University  of  Wilno,  the  care  of  which  was 
committed  to  the  Jesuits,  now  swarming  into  Poland 
in  great  numbers,  and  gradually  getting  the  control 
of  the  education  of  the  country.  This  university 
was  suppressed  after  the  Polish  insurrection  in  1830. 
Schafarik,  however,  accuses  Batory  of  having  been 
too  fond  of  the  Latin  language,  and  by  its  encourage- 
ment doing  harm  to  Polish.  Sarnicki,  the  historian, 
says  of  him  :  "  Fuit  vir  tarn  in  pace  qiiam  in  hello 
excelso  et  forti  aniino,  judicii  magni^  prcesertim  nbi 
ab  ajfectibus  liber  erat ;  in  victu  et  antictu  parens^ 
et  ah  omni  jactantia  et  ostentatione  alienus ;  erudi- 
tione  insigniter  tinctus ;  sermonis  Latine  valde 
studiosus  et  prorsiis   Terentianus!' 

It  was  Stephen  Batory  who  first  organised  the 
Cossacks,  of  whom  we  hear  so  much  in  Russian  and 
Polish  history.  The  Cossacks  of  the  Dnieper  were 
formed  into  six  regiments  of  one  thousand  men  each. 
Further  limitations  of  the  royal  power  took  place  in 
this  reign.  In  1578  the  right  of  final  appeal  to  the 
king  was  taken  away,  or  could  only  be  exercised  in  a 
small  district  within  a  certain  radius  of  his  residence. 
Sixteen  senators  were  also  chosen  to  attend  him 
and  give  their  opinion  on  important  matters.  In 
the  midst  of  all  his  plans,  Batory  was  seized  with 
an  illness  which  proved  fatal.  It  was  just  as  his 
constitution  began  to  break  up  that  he  was  visited  at 
his  castle,  Niepolomice,  near  Cracow,  by  the  English 


DEATH   OF   BATORY.  I07 

wizards  Dee  and  Kelly.  Stephen  had  always  shown 
great  fondness  for  soothsayers.  He  had  consulted 
them  on  his  first  coming  to  Poland.  But  he  soon 
got  tired  of  their  impostures,  and  gradually  grew 
weaker,  till  he  died  on  the  12th  of  December,  1586, 
at  Grodno. 

He  had  ruled  with  a  vigorous  hand,  and  had  done 
what  he  could  to  cope  with  the  turbulent  aristocracy : 
this  was  especially  shown  in  his  treatment  of  Samuel 
Zborowski,  the  assassin  of  Wapowski,  who  had  ven- 
tured to  return  to  Poland,  from  which  he  had  been 
banished  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  and  had  even 


COIN  OF  STEPHEN  BATORY. 

commenced  new  intrigues,  being  engaged  in  a  plot 
against  Zamojski,  the  Starosta  of  Cracow.  He  and 
his  brothers  were  even  suspected  of  designs  against 
the  king  himself  Samuel  was  publicly  executed  at 
Cracow  in  1584;  of  his  two  brothers  one  escaped 
into  Germany,  and  the  punishment  of  the  other  was 
prevented  by  the  sudden  death  rf  Stephen  at  the 
comparatively  early  age  of  54. 

His  wife,  with  whom  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
lived  very  happily,  survived  him  ten  years.  We 
get  a  curious  picture  of  her  in  the  quaint  diary  of 
Horsjy,  already  quoted.     Jerome  seems  to  have  had 


I 


I08  THE   JAGIELLOS. 

an  interview  with  her  at  Warsaw  in  1589,  on  his  last 
journey  to  Russia.  His  story  shall  be  told  in  his 
own  words :  "  I  was  willinge  to  see  Quen  Ann, 
King  Sigimsmondus  the  Third  [first?],  his  daughter, 
Kinge  Stephanus  Batur,  his  late  widow  and  wiff.  I 
putt  one  one  of  my  mens  livoiies,  passed  to  her  pallace, 
before  the  windowes  wherof  wear  placed  potts  and 
ranckes  of  great  carnacions,  gelly- flowers,  province 
rosses,  swett  lillies,  and  other  sweett  herbs  and 
strainge  flowers,  geavinge  most  fragrant  swett  smells 
Came  into  the  chamber  she  satt  and  supped  in  ; 
stood  emonge  the  rest  of  many  other  gentlemen. 
Her  Majesty  sate  under  a  white  silke  canapie,  upon 
a  great  Turckye  carpett,  in  a  chaire  of  estate,  a  hard 
favored  Quen  :  her  mayeds  of  honnor  and  ladies 
attendants  at  supper  in  the  same  room,  a  great 
travers  [arras  ?]  drawen  bet  wen  ;  saw  her  service  and 
behaviour  and  atendance.  At  last  one  spied  me 
that  had  taken  noatice  of  me  before  :  told  the  lord 
steward  standinge  by  her  chaire  ;  he  castinge  his  eye 
upon  me,  made  other  to  behold  me.  I  shiffted, 
backe  ;  he  told  the  Quen.  'Call  him  hether,  though^ 
not  in  state.'  Saieth  the  old  lord,  '  Will  you  any 
thinge  with  her  Majesty?'  '  Noe,  sir,  I  came  but  to 
see  her  Majesty's  princely  state  and  presents  [pre- 
sence], for  which  I  crave  pardon  if  it  be  offence.' 
'  Her  Majesty  will  have  speach  with  you.'  I  was 
discovered  by  my  curious  ruffes.  The  ladies  hasted 
from  their  tabell;  came  about  the  Quen.  The  Quen, 
after  I  had  done  my  obeisance,  asked  if  I  wear  the 
gentilman  of  England  that  had  lately  negociated 
with  the  kinge ;  and  by  her  interpreter  would  know 


ANNA   yAGIELLONKA.  I09 

the  Quen*s  name.  '  Elizaveta  is  to  blessed  a  name 
for  such  a  scurge  of  the  Catholicque  Churche  ;  her 
sisters  name  was  Maria,  a  blessed  saint  in  heaven.' 
I  desired  to  speake  without  her  interpreter,  who  did 
not  well.  '  Praie  doe.'  Ouene  Elizabeths  name  is 
most  renouned  and  better  accounted  of  by  the  best 
and  most  pouisent,  greatest  emperiall  kings  and 
princes  of  this  world  ;  the  defendirs  of  the  true  and 
aunctient  Catholicke  Church  and  faith,  so  reverenced 
and  stilled  [styled],  as  her  due,  both  by  foes  and 
frendes.'  '  Na,  na,  sir,  if  she  be  soe,  whie  doth  she 
so  cruelly  putt  to  death  so  many  holly  catholikes, 
Storie,  Campion,  and  other  godly  marters.  They 
were  traitors  to  God  and  her  crown,  precticed  her 
subvercion  and  ruen  of  her  kyngdom.'  'Yea!  but 
how  could  she  spill  the  bloud  of  the  Lordes 
anointed,  a  Quen  more  magnificent  than  herself, 
without  the  triall,  jugement,  and  consent  of  her 
peers,  the  holly  father  the  pope,  and  all  the  Chris- 
tian princes  of  Europia.'  '  Her  subjects  and  parlia- 
ment thought  it  so  requiset,  without  her  royall 
consent,  for  her  more  saffety  and  quiett  of  her 
realme  daily  endangered.'  She  shoke  her  head  with 
dislike  of  my  answer.  Her  Majestys  gostly  father, 
Possavine,  the  great  Jesuite,  came  in;  toke  displeasur 
at  my  prcsenc  ;  one  whose  skirts  I  had  sate  before  in 
the  cittie  of  the  Musco,  when  he  was  nunciat  ther  and 
rejected.  Her  Majesty  called  for  a  glas  of  Hungers 
[Hungarian]  wine,  with  two  slices  of  chea'  [cheat] 
bread  upon  it.  Willed  the  lord  steward  to  give  it  to 
me,  which  I  refused  till  her  highness  had  taken  it 
into  her  own  handes  to  give  it  me;  and  so*  dismist. 


no  THE   yAGIELLOS. 

I  was  glad  when  I  came  home  to  putt  of  my  llvorie ; 
but  my  hostis,  a  comly  gentihveoman  well  knowen 
to  the  Quen,  was  presently  sent  for.  Her  Majesty 
was  desirous  to  see  the  perrell  chayn  I  wore  a 
Sounday  when  I  toke  my  leave  of  the  kinge,  the 
rather  because  a  bold  Jew,  the  kinges  chieff  cus- 
tomer, toke  it  in  his  hand,  and  told  the  kinge,  as  the 
Quen  said,  that  they  wear  counterfeite  perrell,  fish 
eys  dried  ;  and  to  know  how  my  ruffes  wear  starched, 
handsomly  made  with  silver  wyer  and  starched  in 
England.  My  chaine  was  returned,  and  no  honnor 
lost  by  the  Quens  sight  therof " 

Anna  Jagiellonka  died  in  1596,  and  is  buried  in 
the  cathedral  of  Cracow,  where  there  is  a  handsome 
monument  to  her  memory.  Her  effigy  represents 
a  woman  of  masculine  appearance.  The  celebrated 
Jesuit  rhetorician,  Peter  Skarga,  preached  a  sermon 
at  her  funeral.  Many  historians  have  considered 
that  with  the  death  of  Batory  the  decadence  #f 
Poland  really  begins,  and  their  opinion  seems  jus- 
tified. He  had  throughout  shown  himself  a  vigorous 
ruler,  not  merely  in  his  foreign  policy,  which  has 
already  been  explained,  but  by  the  firm  hand  with 
which  he  directed  the  internal  affairs  of  the  kingdom. 
He  had  restrained  the  nobility  by  limiting  as  much 
as  he  could  their  privileges,  and  he  is  said  to  have 
purposed  making  the  throne  hereditary.  Such  a 
measure  as  this  was  sure  to  meet  with  violent  opposi- 
tion, and  hence  the  report  was  spread  that  the  great 
king  was  poisoned  ;  but  it  appears  clear  enough  that 
some  time  before  his  death  he  had  been  in  failing 
health,  and  his  bodily  condition  was  carefully  watched 


[ 


i. 

I 


112  THE   JAGIELLOS. 

by  the  neighbouring  powers,  especially  by  the  German 
Emperor,  whose  ambassadors  are  found  frequently 
sending  private  despatches  on  the  subject. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  anomalous  govern- 
ment under  which  Poland  suffered  began  to  be  more 
realised  in  the  European  system.  The  sixteenth 
century  was  the  great  period  throughout  Europe  of 
the  rise  of  the  middle  class,  of  the  development  of 
towns,  of  the  emancipation  of  the  peasants,  and  in 
consequence  of  these  movements  the  limitation  of  the 
power  of  the  aristocracy.  It  is  the  age  of  the  influence 
of  the  Reformation  and  the  press.  The  European 
states  begin  now  more  and  more  to  constitute  a  vast 
system,  and  one  reacts  upon  the  other.  But  as  yet 
Poland  had  stood  aloof  from  the  great  European 
conflicts.  She  did  not  maintain  ambassadors  at 
foreign  courts  any  more  than  the  Russians  did  ; 
although  we  occasionally  hear  of  embassies  being 
sent  for  extraordinary  purposes.  The  chief  reason 
for  this  policy  appears  to  have  been  that  the  nobles 
who  now  held  the  power  almost  entirely  in  their 
hands,  would  have  mistrusted  any  permanent  emis- 
sary, who  might  have  been  in  the  interest  of  the  king. 
They  were  jealous  of  him  and  of  one  another.  P2ven 
so  late  as  the  treaty  of  Westphalia  in  1648,  when 
King  Ladislaus  IV.  was  invited  to  share  in  the  de- 
liberations of  a  congress  which  made  a  re-settlement 
of  the  condition  of  almost  all  Europe,  he  paid  no 
heed  to  the  summons,  and  no  plenipotentiaries  from 
his  kingdom  made  their  appearance  there.  But  this 
was  a  complete  mistake  on  the  part  of  the  Poles,  and 
they  were  soon  to  be  made  to  feel  it. 


THE   CONDITION   OF  POLAND.  II3 

With  the  French  tlieir  relations  had  been  some- 
what strained  on  account  of  the  cavalier  treatment 
they  had  experienced  from  Henri  de  Valois.  During 
the  succeeding  century  we  shall  not  find  much  connec- 
tion between  France  and  Poland,  save  the  detention 
of  John  Casimir  when  a  young  man  in  France,  and 
the  embassy  sent  to  fetch  Marie  Louise,  the  bride 
of  Ladislaus  IV.,  who,  although  an  Italian  princess, 
was  residing  at  Paris,  being  a  cousin  of  the  Prince  de 
Conde.  With  Turkey  Poland  was  at  peace  till  the 
conclusion  of  the  reign  of  Sigismund  III.,  but  she 
was  always  considered  one  of  the  chief  enemies  of 
the  Republic,  and  was  easily  able  to  make  war  upon 
her  from  the  south.  Germany  was  tranquil  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  we  shall 
see  that  the  house  of  Habsburg  furnished  two  wives 
to  Sigismund  III. 

In  one  respect  Batory  had  done  mischief  to  Poland 
in  introducing  and  favouring  the  Jesuits.  Some 
isolated  members  of  that  body  had  penetrated  the 
country  in  the  reign  of  Sigismund  Augustus,  but 
their  formal  introduction  is  to  be  traced  to  Batory. 
Singularly  enough  there  appears  every  reason  to 
believe  that  on  his  election  to  the  throne  he  was 
a  Protestant.  Certainly  many  of  the  princes  of 
Transylvania  were  so,  only  to  mention  Bethlen 
Gabor,  the  hero  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  There 
were  active  Protestant  presses  in  that  principality  ; 
where  were  published  the  first  books  in  the  Rou- 
manian language  ;  some  of  the  most  interesting 
Magyar  publications  also  made  their  appearance 
there.     It   was   a  kind   of  intellectual  wedge  driven 

9 


114  ^^^   yAGIELLOS. 

into  the  midst  of  ignorant  and  semi-civilised  popula- 
tions. Accordingly  when  Batory  was  on  the  point 
of  being  elected  the  Protestants  were  pleased  with 
the  prospect  of  having  a  sovereign  of  their  own  faith, 
but  the  Romanists  were  equal  to  the  occasion,  and 
sent  a  priest  named  Solikowski  to  endeavour  to  con- 
vert the  new  monarch.  The  thirteen  members  of  the 
delegation  commissioned  to  announce  his  election  to 
Batory  appear  to  have  been  Dissidents  with  the 
exception  of  Mniszek,  the  palatine  of  Sandomir.  He 
was,  however,  far  from  being  a  bigoted  Romanist,  for 
we  find  one  of  his  daughters  married  to  a  member 
of  the  Greek  communion.  Another  daughter  was 
the  celebrated  Marina  Mniszek,  wife  of  the  false 
Demetrius.  The  delegates  watched  Solikowski  care- 
fully to  prevent  him  if  possible  from  having  any 
private  conversation  with  Batory.  But  he  eluded 
their  vigilance,  and  had  a  meeting  with  the  newl)'- 
elected  king  at  night.  Solikowski  thereupon  per- 
suaded Batory  that  he  had  no  chance  of  occupying 
the  throne  of  Poland  unless  he  became  a  Roman 
Catholic.  Moreover,  one  of  the  terms  of  his  election 
was,  as  we  have  previously  seen,  that  he  should 
marry  the  princess  Anna,  but  this  lady  was  a  bigoted 
Roman  Catholic,  and  not  likely  to  view  with  favour 
a  Protestant  husband.  Batory  was  induced  to  con- 
sent, and  was  soon,  to  the  astonishment  of  most 
of  the  delegates,  seen  kneeling  at  mass. 

During  his  reign  many  enactments  were  passed 
against  heresy,  especially  at  the  famous  synod  of 
Piotrkow.  Supported  by  the  patronage  of  the  king 
the  Jesuit  colleges  and  schools  spread  all  over  the 


THE   DTSSTDENTS.  I15 

country,  and  the  University  of  Wilno,  founded  by 
Batory,  became  their  headquarters.  It  was  cunningly 
estabh'shed  in  the  centre  of  a  population  the  great 
bulk  of  which  was  Protestant  or  Orthodox  Greek. 
Prince  Radziwill,  the  palatine  of  Wilno,  and  Eusta- 
thius  Wollowicz,  the  Vice- Chancellor  of  Lithuania, 
who  were  Dissidents,  for  a  long  time  refused  to  affix 
the  seal  of  the  state  to  the  charter  for  this  Jesuit 
university,  but  the  king  disregarded  their  representa- 
tions. During  the  reign  of  Stephen  there  were  many 
sanguinary  quarrels  between  the  Romanists  and  the 
Protestants,  which  ended  in  the  discomfiture  of  the 
latter.  Batory  was  not  contented  with  the  University 
of  Wilno,  he  also  set  about  founding  one  in  Livonia, 
which  had  been  united  to  the  Polish  dominions  in 
the  reign  of  Sigismund  Augustus,  and  was  entirely 
Protestant.  Induced  by  the  persuasions  of  Possevino, 
a  most  indefatigable  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
the  Pope,  Batory  established  the  Roman  Catholic 
bishopric  of  Wenden  and  Jesuit  colleges  at  Dorpat 
and  Riga.  In  the  latter  city  he  ordered-  a  church 
to  be  taken  from  the  Lutherans  and  given  to  the 
Jesuits.  The  municipal  authorities  vainly  petitioned 
the  king  against  this  arbitrary  proceeding.  A  con- 
vent of  Jesuits  was  founded  at  Riga  under  the 
direction  of  Laterna,  Skarga,  and  Brlickner,  all  cele- 
brated for  their  zeal  against  the  Anti-Romanists.  In 
1585  a  riot  broke  out  at  Riga,  and  the  church  of  the 
Jesuits  was  attacked.  In  1586  another  commotion 
took  place,  caused  by  the  imprisonment  of  Moller, 
a  popular  preacher,  who  had  excited  the  inhabitants 
against  the  Jesuits.     The  superior  of  that  order  was 


Il6  THE   JAGIELLOS: 

obliged  to  leave  the  city,  and  the  municipality,  who 
could  not  restrain  the  mob,  endeavoured  to  act  as 
mediators.  They  accepted  the  conditions  that  the 
school  of  the  Jesuits  should  be  abolished  and  that 
public  processions  in  the  streets  should  be  discon- 
tinued. The  king,  however,  ordered  ever,ything  to 
be  put  upon  its  former  footing.  The  Jesuits  returned 
to  Riga,  but  a  more  violent  outbreak  occurred,  and 
some  of  the  chief  magistrates  suspected  of  favouring 
them  were  murdered.  The  king  cited  the  leaders 
of  the  insurrection  before  his  tribunal  :  as  they  did 
not  appear  they  were  condemned  to  death  in  con- 
tumaciam at  the  diet  of  Grodno  in  1586,  and  the 
schools  and  church  were  to  be  surrendered  to  the 
Jesuits.  But  in  the  midst  of  all  these  tumults  the 
sudden  death  of  Batory  occurred. 

With  this  event  the  great  duel  between  the 
Roman  Catholics  and  the  Dissidents  may  be  said 
in  the  main  to  have  closed.  Truly  the  contests 
always  were  raging,  but  from  this  time  the  Romanists 
had  the  upper  hand.  The  Jesuits  had  done  it  all  ; 
they  had  got  into  their  hands  the  education  of  the 
country.  The  Roman  Catholics  exhibited  a  compact, 
united  body,  who  were  as  great  adepts  at  politics 
as  in  religion.  The  Protestants,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  divided,  and  showed  extraordinary  weakness 
and  want  of  cohesion.  The  Trinitarians  refused  all 
co-operation  with  the  Unitarians,  and  it  was  the 
same  with  the  other  sects. 

Gradually  the  aristocratic  families  came  over. 
Many  had  been  reconciled  to  the  Romish  Church 
during  the  interregnum  on  the  death  of  Sigismund 


ALBERT  LASKT.  II7 

Augustus.  Commendone,  the  papal  legate,  was  able 
to  announce  to  the  Cardinal  of  Como  the  return 
on  his  deathbed  of  the  Castellan  of  Polianica. 
Christopher  Zborowski  must  be  added  to  the  number 
and  many  of  the  Radziwills.  Albert  Laski,  the 
nephew  of  the  celebrated  reformer,  we  find  also 
joining  the  Roman  Catholics.  He  seems  to  have 
been  a  vain,  cruel  man,  and  blazed  for  some  time 
the  "  comet  of  a  season  "  at  the  Court  of  Elizabeth 
of  England,  but  was  compelled  to  leave  our  country 
abruptly  on  account  of  his  debts. 

Before  leaving  this  interesting  and  important  reign 
we  will  cite  the  epitaph  on  the  monument  of  Batoryj 
as  still  to  be  seen  In  the  cathedral  of  Cracow — 


'  Pacts  bellique  artihiis  nmgno. 

Jus  to,  pio  felici  Vic  tori, 

'  Livonia  Polociceque  de  Moscho  vindici^ 
Anna  Jagiellonia  Regina  PolonicE 
Prastantiss.  Conjugi.  M.  F.  C,  MDXCV., 
Obiitpridie  Idus  Decembris  AWLXXXVI. 
Reg.  An.  X.  Men.    VII.  dies  XII.  nat.  LIV:' 


VIII. 

FURTHER  DECLINE  OF  THE  COUNTRY — REIGNS  OF 
SIGISMUND  HI.,  LADISLAUS  IV.,  JOHN  CASI- 
MIR,   AND   MICHAEL   KORYBUT. 


The  kingdom  was  rent  into  many  factions  at  the 
time  of  the  death  of  Ratory.  The  principal  were 
those  of  the  Zamojskis  and  Zborowskis.  These 
selfish  men  were  worthy  predecessors  of  the  con- 
federates of  Targowica.  The  candidates  for  the 
throne  included  the  Archduke  Maximilian,  of  Austria, 
Feodore  Ivanovich,  the  son  of  the  terrible  Ivan,  who 
appears  to  have  been  an  imbecile,  and  Sigismund,  a 
Swedish  prince,  son  of  Catherine,  sister  of  Sigismund 
Augustus,  who  had  married  John,  King  of  Sweden 
(1568-1 592),  a  narrow-minded  bigot,  who  was  induced 
by  his  wife  to  attempt  to  re-introduce  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  into  Sweden.  John,  Prince  of  Fin- 
land, as  he  was  at  the  time  of  his  marriage,  was  the 
brother  of  the  infamous  Eric  XIV.,  renowned  for  his 
cruelties,  and  generally  supposed  to  have  been  insane. 
The  marriage  had  taken  place  in  1562  at  Wilno.  The 
Tsar  Ivan  the  Terrible,  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  of 

Austria,  and  Eric  himself,  had  in  vain  been  candidates 

118 


I 


JOHN   OF   SWEDEN.  II9 

for  her  hand.  The  young  couple  proceeded  to  Stock- 
holm after  their  marriage,  but  suddenly,  by  the  orders 
of  Eric,  were  imprisoned  at  Gripsholm.  Their  cap- 
tivity lasted  several  years.  Catherine  had  two  children 
during  her  imprisonment,  a  daughter,  Isabella,  who 
died  soon  after  its  birth,  and  the  son  Sigismund, 
whom  we  now  find  the  candidate  for  the  Polish 
throne.  Ivan,  who  throughout  his  life  seems  to  have 
been  troubled  with  (ew  scruples  about  marriage,  sent 
an  ambassador  to  I^ric  to  demand  the  hand  of  Cathe- 
rine again.  But  she  preferred  to  live  and  die  with 
her  husband.  Eric  thereupon  decided  to  have  his 
brother  assassinated,  but  on  hearing  that  the  Danes 
had  made  a  descent  upon  Sweden,  he  hurried  to  meet 
them,  and  committed  a  whole  series  of  atrocities. 
Finally,  coming  to  his  senses,  he  abdicated  in  favour  of 
John,  who,  when  at  the  height  of  his  misfortunes,  thus 
ascended  the  throne  of  his  ancestors,  and  was  crowned 
at  Upsala  with  Catherine  in  1569.  The  highly  dra- 
matic story  of  the  adventures  of  him  and  his  wife  has 
been  told  in  a  small  painphlet,  printed  at  Cracow  in 
1570,  under  the  title  Historya  Prawdziwa  o  przy- 
godzie  zalosnej  Knig,zecia  Finlandzkiego  J  ana  i  Kt^o- 
leivny  Katarzyny  ("  Authentic  History  of  the 
deplorable  Misfortunes  of  John,  Prince  of  Finland, 
and  the  Princess  Catherine").  It  is  supposed  to  have 
been  written  by  the  historian  Kromer,  and  has  been 
lately  edited  by  M.  Kraushar. 

Sigismund,  the  Swedish  prince,  was  eventually 
elected,  but  Maximilian  did  not  abandon  his  candi- 
dature without  a  struggle,  and  was  defeated  by 
Zamojski,  the  Polish  general,  at  Byczyna,  in  Silesia, 


SlGIbMUWD   III. 


SIGISMUND   III.  121 

whereupon  he  consented  to  withdraw  his  claims.  But 
this  will  be  by  no  means  the  last  occasion  of  the 
meddling  of  the  Austrians  in  the  affairs  of  Poland. 
A  serious  riot  occurred  at  the  election  of  Sigismund, 
as  we  are  informed  by  Lengnich  in  his  Jus  Publicum 
Regni  Poloni :  the  booths  occupied  by  the  senators 
when  they  met  at  the  place  of  election  near  Warsaw — 
which  used  to  present  the  appearance  of  a  camp — 
were  burnt  to  the  ground.  The  new  king  signed  the 
p(7Cta  conventa,  and  concluded  an  alliance  offensive 
and  defensive  between  Poland  and  Sweden.  He  soon, 
however,  got  tired  of  his  Polish  subjects,  and  became 
in  turn  unpopular  among  them  to  such  an  extent  that 
not  much  more  than  a  year  after  the  commencement 
of  his  reign  he  longed  to  go  back  to  Sweden,  and 
arranged  with  his  father  to  do  so  at  an  interview 
which  they  had  at  Revel.  The  Swedes,  however, 
objected  to  the  Polish  king's  return,  probably  on  the 
ground  of  his  religion.  Nevertheless  he  came  back  on 
the  death  of  his  father  in  1 592.  The  Polish  estates  voted 
him  200,000  gulden  for  the  expenses  of  his  journey  ; 
he  sailed  from  Danzig  and  reached  Stockholm  in 
September,  1593.  In  March  of  the  following  year  he 
was  crowned  at  Upsala,  and  consented  to  allow  his 
Swedish  subjects  religious  liberty,  but  on  his  return 
to  Stockholm  began  to  violate  all  his  premises.  He 
made  his  appearance  again  in  Poland  on  the  i8th 
of  August,  having  appointed  Roman  Catholic  gover- 
nors over  every  Swedish  province.  During  his  absence 
the  kingdom  of  Sweden  was  in  a  constant  state  of 
commotion  Between  the  rival  factions  of  Sigismund 
and  his  uncle  Karl.     In  1598,  Sigismund  marched  into 


123  THE    DECLINE    OF   THE   COUNTRY. 

Sweden  with  a  small  army  against  his  uncle,  but  was 
completely  defeated  at  Stangebro,  near  Linkoping, 
and  forced  to  quit  the  country. 

The  Swedes,  however,  were  determined  to  have  a 
definite  settlement  of  the  claims  of  the  rival  candi- 
dates, and  accordingly,  in  1600  the  Council  and 
Estates  of  Sweden  sent  envoys  to  Poland  demanding 
the  immediate  return  of  Sigismund,  in  default  of 
wh'ch  they  declared  the  Swedish  throne  vacant,  and 
requiring  that  in  that  case  he  should  send  his  son 
Ladislaus  to  Sweden  to  be  brought  up  in  the  Lutheran 
faith.  On  Sigismund  taking  no",  notice  of  this 
demand,  he  and  his  heirs  were  declared  to  have  for- 
feited the  Swedish  crown  and  henceforth  his  history 
belongs  to  Poland  only.  But  we  must  retrace  our 
steps  a  little. 

In  1592  Sigismund  married  at  Gratz  Anne,  the 
daughter  of  the  Austrian  Archduke  Charles,  without 
the  consent  of  the  diet,  a  proceeding  at  which  his 
subjects  were  much  offended,  because  he  had  set  at 
open  defiance  one  of  the  most  important  clauses  of 
the  pacta  conventa.  The  same  year  took  place  the 
Diet  of  the  Inquisition  as  it  was  called  {Sejm  Inkwi- 
^ycyjny)^  in  which  a  searching  inquiry  was  to  be  made 
into  the  recent  policy  of  the  king. 

As  regards  religious  matters,  the  country  was  still 
in  a  very  troubled  state,  and  things  had  been  going 
badly  with  the  Dissidents.  In  1589  a  synod  held  at 
Gniezno  passed  some  severe  statutes  against  heresy, 
and  declared  among  other  things  that  a  Roman 
Catholic  alone  should  be  elected  to  the  throne  of 
Poland  :  this  decree  was  confirmed  by  a  bull  of  Pope 


THE    UNIATES.  1 23 

Sixtus  V.  But  in  this  respect  Poland  was  only  in  the 
same  position  as  other  European  states,  which  re- 
quired that  the  king  should  be  of  the  religion  of  the 
country,  or  as  it  was  gei^erally  put  in  the  concise  way, 
cHJus  est  regio^  ejus  est  religio.  In  1593,  as  Sigismund 
was  passing  through  the  province  of  Prussia,  he 
ordered  that  the  principal  churches  of  Thorn  and 
Elbing,  where  Protestantism  flourished,  should  be 
restored  to  Roman  Catholic  worship.  We  shall  see 
at  a  subsequent  period  what  a  baneful  effect  all  this 
persecution  had,  and  how  it  helped  to  bring  about  the 


COIN    OF   SIGISMUND    III. 


dismemberment  of  the  country,  as  these  cities  easily 
inclined  to  a  Protestant  sovereign.  They  have  now 
become  completely  Germanized. 

In  1595,  at  Brzesc  in  Lithuania  took  place  the 
so-called  Union  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches, 
an  event  which  must  be  here  explained  in  a  few 
words.  The  popes  had  constantly  attempted  to 
bring  the  Russian  Church  into  harmony  with  that  of 
Rome.  But  from  the  Council  of  Florence  onward 
they  had  been  unsuccessful  ;  although  Isidore,  the 
Metropolitan  of  Moscow,  accepted  the  dignity  of  a 
cardinal,  and  gave  in  his  adhesion,  yet  on  his  return 


124  ^^^   DECLINE    OF    THE    COUNTRY. 

to  his  native  country  he  was  treated  with  derision  and 
imprisoned.  Fortunately  for  himself  he  succeeded  in 
escaping  from  Russia,  to  which  he  never  afterwards 
dared  return.  Nothing  could  be  hoped  from 
Ivan  IV.,  in  spite  of  the  attempts  of  Possevino  and 
others  ;  but  Sigismund,  who  was  as  great  a  fanatic  as 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  had  many  subjects  who  were 
adherents  of  the  Greek  Church  and  had  come  under 
Polish  rule,  when  the  Eastern  provinces  had  been 
conquered  by  the  Lithuanian  Gedymin,  and  subse- 
quently united  to  Poland. 

The  heathen  rulers  of  Lithuania  did  not  interfere 
with  the  religion  of  their  subjects,  and  the  members 
of  the  Greek  Church  continued  unmolested  even  for 
some  time  after  Ladislaus  Jagiello  had  been  converted 
into  a  good  Roman  Catholic.  But  as  time  went  on 
things  became  very  different,  and  the  Jesuits,  almost 
as  soon  as  their  order  was  founded,  poured  in  large 
numbers  into  Poland  and  her  outlying  provinces.  One 
of  the  most  active  of  these  was  the  celebrated  Peter 
Skarga,  who  has  earned  a  considerable  place  in  Polish 
literature.  He  was  unceasing  in  his  efforts  to  convert 
the  Orthodox  Christians.  In  1594  four  Greek  bishops, 
whose  dioceses  were  in  Polish  territory,  viz.,  those  of 
Luck,  Pinsk,  Chelm,  and  Lemberg,  undertook  to 
bring  over  their  flocks  to  the  Roman  Catholic  doc- 
trines. They  found  a  useful  adherent  in  the  Metro- 
politan of  Kiev,  a  city  which  had  belonged  to  Lithua- 
nian and  Pole  since  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century. 

These  prelates  assembled  at  Brzes<5  and  sent 
Pociey,  Bishop  of  Vladimir,  and  Terlecki,  Bishop  of 


yAN  ZAMoysKi.  125 

Luck,  to  the  king,  who  was  then  at  Cracow.  Sigis- 
mund  furnished  them  with  letters  to  the  Pope,  and 
they  at  once  proceeded  to  Rome.  Clement  VIII. 
gave  them  a  hearty  welcome ;  they  accepted  the 
chief  points  of  the  Council  of  Florence,  admitting 
filioque  in  the  creed,  the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  and 
the  papal  supremacy,  but  they  were  allowed  to  retain 
the  use  of  the  old  Slavonic  language  in  their  ritual, 
and  some  other  points  of  discipline  of  the  Eastern 
Church  were  conceded  to  them.  It  was  in  this  way 
that  the  so-called  Uniates  arose,  the  number  of  whom 
at  the  present  time  is  very  small  in  Russia  ;  their 
stronghold  is  in  Galicia.  In  1605  Sigismund,  whose 
wife  had  died  in  1 598,  married  her  sister  Constance  ; 
this  union  was  also  entered  into  without  the  consent 
of  his  subjects,  and  caused  the  cup  of  their  wrath, 
already  full,  to  overflow.  On  this  occasion  Jan 
Zamojski,  the  chancellor,  made  a  violent  speech,  in 
which  he  openly  upbraided  the  king.  When  Za- 
mojski had  finished,  Sigismund,  unused  to  such 
language,  and  overpowered  with  rage,  rose  from  the 
throne  and  grasped  his  sword.  At  this  gesture  a 
murmur  of  indignation  ran  through  the  diet,  and 
Zamojski  cried  out :  "  Rex,  ne  move  gladiinn  ;  ne  te 
Caiupi  Ccesarem^  nos  Brntos  sera  posteritas  loqiiatur. 
Sumus  electores  reguni,  destinctores  tyrannonun  ;  regna^ 
sed  ne  imperar  A  great  rokosz,  or  revolt,  of  the 
nobles  was  the  result  of  this  outbreak.  There  had 
already  been  one  in  the  reign  of  Sigismund  I.  Such 
a  rebellion  was  in  reality  permitted  by  the  constitu- 
tion if  the  king,  disregarding  the  admonition  of  the 
senate,    persisted    in    violating   their   decrees.      The 


126  THE  DECLINE   OF  THE   COUNTRY, 

clause,  sanctioning  this  opposition,  was  inserted  foi 
the  first  time  into  the  oath  sworn  by  Henry  of  Valois 
on  the  17th  of  September,  1573,  in  the  church  of 
Notre  Dame  at  Paris.  It  was  as  follows :  ''Et  si, 
quod  absit  hi  aliquibus,  Juravienfitui  meuni  viola vero 
nullam  miJii  inelyti  regni  oinniiimqiie  dominiorum 
utriusque  gent  is  (Poles  and  Lithuanians),  obedientiam 
prcBstare  debebunt.  Immo  ipso  facto  eos,  ab  onini  fide, 
obedientia  regi  debita  liberos  facio,  absolutionemque 
nullam  ab  hoc  meo  juramento  a  qiwquam  petam,  neque 
ultro  oblatam  suspiciam,  sic  me  Deus  juvet!' 

But  the  rebels  had  no  good  leaders,  and  the  king, 
weak  as  he  was,  was  able  to  defeat  them  at  Guzow, 
near  Radom,  on  the  6th  of  July,  1607.  The  insur- 
gents were  pardoned,  for  of  course  the  king  had  no 
alternative,  and  thus  an  end  was  put  to  the  civil  war 
which  seemed  on  the  point  of  breaking  out.  An 
important  event  of  this  reign  was  the  expedition  to 
Moscow,  with  Polish  assistance,  of  the  man  who 
styled  himself  Demetrius,  the  son  of  Ivan  the 
Terrible.  This  youth  had  in  reality  died  mys- 
teriously at  Uglitch,  in  Russia  ;  according  to  some 
writers  by  the  secret  orders  of  the  usurper,  Boris 
Godunov.  The  antecedents  of  the  adventurer  have 
never  been  clearly  ascertained  ;  according  to  the 
popular  view  he  was  a  renegade  monk,  a  certain 
Gregory  Otrepiev,  others  see  in  him  a  Roman  Catholic 
agent.  We  have  a  full  account  of  the  pretender  in 
the  quaint  work  of  Captain  Margeret,  a  Frenchman  in 
his  service.  He  distinctly  tells  us  that  the  false  Deme- 
trius, as  he  is  called,  knew  neither  French  nor  Latin, 
and  therefore  was  probably  not  a  Pole.     One  of  his 


THE   FALSE   DEMETRIUS.  I27 

letters  to  the  Pope  is  given  by  Fatlier  Pierling  in  bis 
interesting  work.  There  is  little  doubt  but  that  if 
the  archives  of  the  Vatican  were  fully  examined  we 
should  know  the  whole  story  of  this  impostor,  and 
who  put  him  forward  ;  for  he  was  clearly  a  tool  in 
the  hands  of  some  powerful  agents.  Whatever  the 
truth  may  have  been,  he  was  acknowledged  by  Sigis- 
mund,  who  assisted  him  with  money  and  men  in  his 
enterprise.  The  fanatical  king  perhaps  hoped  there- 
by to  introduce  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  into 
Russia.  The  pretender  married  Marina  Mniszek,  the 
daughter  of  the  palatine  of  Sandomir,  but  his  reign 
was  short,  lasting  only  about  eleven  months.  He 
was  murdered  in  a  tumult  at  Moscow  in  the  year 
1606,  together  with  many  of  the  Poles  who  had 
accompanied  him.  The  fate  of  Marina,  which  was  a 
sad  one,  belongs  more  to  Russian  than  Polish  his- 
tory ;  she  was  a  woman  of  unbounded  ambition,  and 
her  name,  boldly  written  as  Tsaritsa  of  Moscow,  may 
be  seen  in  an  album  preserved  in  the  University 
Library  at  Cracow.  Basil  Shuiski,  who  was  elected 
by  the  Russians  to  succeed  Demetrius,  was  defeated 
by  the  Polish  general,  Zolkiewski,  at  Klushino,  and 
carried  captive  to  Warsaw,  where  he  died  the  follow- 
ing year.  In  16 14  the  Poles  got  possession  of 
Smolensk,  that  border  city  which  we  find  so  fre- 
quently changing  hands.  In  1617  Sigismund  sent 
his  son  Ladislaus  to  Moscow,  which  had  been  taken 
by  Zolkiewski.  He  was  elected  king  by  a  certain 
faction,  but  his  assumption  of  sovereignty  was  dis- 
tasteful to  the  bulk  of  his  new  subjects,  as  he  was  a 
member    of  the    Latin    Church.      By  the   treaty   of 


128  THE  DECLINE   OF   THE   COUNTRY. 

Deiilino,  in  1618,  the  Poles  abandoned  all  claims 
upon  Russia,  but  Smolensk  remained  in  their  hands. 
In  162 1  Chodkiewicz,  one  of  the  most  renowned 
generals  whom  Poland  ever  produced,  defeated  an 
army  of  400,000  Turks  and  Tatars  at  Chocim,  a 
battle  very  celebrated  in  Slavonic  annals.  It  has 
formed  the  subject  of  three  well-known  poems,  the 
Osman  of  the  Ragusan  Gundulic,  the  Woyna  Cho- 
cimska  of  Potocki,  written  towards  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  found  about  fifty  years  ago  in 
manuscript,  and  for  a  long  time  attributed  to  another 
author  ;  and  thirdly  an  epic  by  the  artificial  poet, 
Krasicki,  of  last  century.  Two  of  these  works  will 
be  more  fully  discussed  in  our  chapter  on  Polish 
literature.  Legnich  in  h\?>  Jus  Publicum  Regni  Poloni 
tells  us  that  in  1632  the  Cossacks  petitioned  to  be 
allowed  to  take  part  in  the  diet,  but  their  request  was 
refused  with  indignation.  For  this  conduct  we  shall 
see  that  the  Poles  were  shortly  to  pay  very  dear. 
The  Queen  Constance  died  on  the  12th  of  July,  1631, 
and  the  king  on  the  30th  of  April  of  the  following 
year.  The  reign  of  Sigismund  was  a  long  one,  and 
full  of  disasters  to  his  country,  with  here  and  there  a 
fruitless  victory.  The  Dissidents  were  estranged  by 
religious  persecutions,  the  Cossacks  were  on  the  eve 
of  their  great  rebellion,  and  the  anarchy  of  the  nobles 
was  at  its  height.  In  the  early  part  of  his  reign  we 
see  Sigismund  attempting  to  obtain  the  crown  of 
Sweden,  and  he  seems  never  to  have  completely 
abandoned  his  hope  of  succeeding.  Instigated  by 
his  Austrian  wife,  he  was  foolish  enough  to  mix  him- 
self up  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and   thought  that, 


SMOTRYCKI.  129 

supported  by  the  German  Emperor  and  the  King  of 
Spain,  there  might  be  some  chance  of  his  getting  the 
Swedish  throne.  He  allowed  the  Emperor  to  enrol 
troops  in  Poland,  and  got  ready  some  ships  in  the 
Baltic.  By  the  treaty,  however,  of  Marienburg  (Mal- 
borg)  in  1629,  Sweden  gained  the  rest  of  Livonia, 
Elbing,  and  a  part  of  Prussia. 

The  Jesuits  were  very  active  during  his  reign,  and 
many  Socinians  and  other  Dissidents  met  with  cruel 
deaths.  The  Greek  Church  suffered  much  persecu- 
tion, and  the  condition  of  its  members  is  graphically 
described  in  the  celebrated  work,  the  "  Lament  of  the 
Oriental  Church,"  by  Meletius  Smotrycki,  who  was 
also  the  author  of  the  first  Slavonic  grammar.  The 
continued  persecutions  instigated  by  Koncewicz,  the 
Bishop  of  Polock,  led  to  a  deplorable  event,  the 
murder  of  that  prelate  on  the  12th  of  July,  1623. 
No  revolt  against  the  civil  authorities  followed  on 
this  tumult,  but  severe  punishment  was  inflicted  on 
the  town  by  a  commission  presided  over  by  the  chan- 
cellor, Leo  Sapieha,  who  had  tried  in  vain  to  prevent 
the  occurrence  by  representing  to  Koncewicz  the 
danger  of  his  proceedings.  The  two  magistrates  of 
the  town,  and  eighteen  of  the  principal  citizens  were 
punished,  and  its  franchises  were  abolished.  It  is  in 
the  reign  of  Sigismund  IIL  that  we  have  one  of  the 
few  instances  of  relations  between  Poland  and  Eng- 
land. An  ambassador,  Paul  Dzialinski,  or  Jalinus, 
as  he  was  called  in  Latin,  was  sent  in  1597  to  the 
Court  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  He  was  a  man  of  stately 
presence,  and  appeared  in  a  splendid  suit  of  black 
velvet.     On  being  brought  before  the  queen  he  made 

10 


THE  STATUE  OF   SjlGlSMUND   III.    AT   WARSAW. 


yAN   LASKL  131 

a  long  oiation  in  Latin,  complaining  of  the  wars 
between  the  Engh'sh  and  Spaniards,  whereby  he 
asserted  that  the  commerce  of  Poland  was  seriously 
injured.  In  reply  Elizabeth  broke  out  into  an  angry 
speech  in  excellent  Latin,  in  which,  as  the  old 
chronicler  Speed  says,  "  lion-like  rising,  she  daunted 
the  malapert  orator,  no  less  with  her  stately  port  and 
majestical  deporture  than  with  the  tartness  of  her 
princely  checks."  We  will  take  this  opportunity  of 
mentioning  another  Pole,  who  was  for  some  time  in 
England  in  the  sixteenth  century.  This  was  Jan 
Laski,  or  John  a  Lasco,  as  he  is  frequently  called, 
born  at  Lask  in  the  palatinate  of  Sieradz  ;  one  of  the 
most  noble  workers  among  those  who  propagated  the 
reformed  doctrines.  After  many  journeys  in  Ger- 
many, Holland,  and  other  parts  of  the  continent, 
where  he  associated  with  the  leading  Protestants, 
Laski  reached  PLngland  in  September,  1548,  when 
Edward  VI.  was  on  the  throne,  and  the  reformed 
doctrines  were  under  royal  protection.  The  Pole 
remained  for  about  eight  months  the  guest  of  Cran- 
mer,  then  primate,  and  an  intimate  friendship  sprang 
up  between  them.  In  his  miscellaneous  writings 
Cranmer  says  :  ^'  Johannes  a  Lasco,  vir  optimus  niecuin 
hosce  aliquot  menses  conjnnctissime  et  amantissime  vixit!' 
In  the  middle  of  March  in  the  following  year  he  left 
England,  but  returned  in  1550,  and  again  stayed 
with  Cranmer.  This  excellent  man,  who  seems  to 
have  made  many  friends  in  England,  died  on  the 
8th  of  January,  1560.  Another  Pole  who  lived  in 
England  belongs  to  a  later  period — Samuel  Hartlib, 
the  friend  of  Milton,  to  whom  the  poet  dedicated  one 


T32  THE   DECLINE   OF   THE   COUNTRY. 

of  his  prose  works.  Hartlib  sprang  from  Polish 
Protestants,  and  permanently  took  up  his  abode  in 
this  country,  where  he  died  soon  after  the  Restora- 
tion. 

During  the  whole  reign  of  Sigismund  TIL  Poland 
was  in  a  continual  state  of  decadence.  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Ladislaus  IV.,  who  was 
elected  by  the  diet  ;  at  the  same  time  war  was 
declared  against  the  Russians,  but  it  was  soon 
brought  to  a  close  by  a  peace  with  Michael  Romanov, 
who  had  been  elected  Tsar.  This  peace  was  signed 
at  Polanow,  between  Wiazma  and  Dorogobuzh. 
Smolensk  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Poles,  but 
Ladislaus  gave  up  his  claims  to  the  title  of  Tsar,  and 
thus  all  his  attempts  to  gain  the  throne  of  Muscovy 
resulted  in  failure.  In  1655  peace  was  also  concluded 
with  the  Swedes  at  Stumdorf  The  king's  reign  was 
disturbed  by  constant  quarrels  between  Roman 
Catholics  and  Protestants  ;  among  other  enactments 
prejudicial  to  the  latter,  the  municipality  of  Cracow 
deprived  the  Protestants  of  the  privileges  of  burghers. 
But  we  must  remember  that  toleration  was  little 
understood  in  the  other  European  countries. 

Ladislaus  had  wished  to  marry  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Frederick,  the  palatine  of  the  Rhine,  and  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  James  L  of  England,  but  the 
opposition  to  the  king's  union  with  a  Protestant  was 
so  great,  that  he  looked  to  the  ever-ready  house  of 
Austria,  and  in  1637  he  married  Cecilia  Renata, 
sister  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  III.,  and  on  her 
death,  which  took  place  in  1644,  a  Mantuan  princess, 
Marie  Louise. 


MARIE   LOUISE.  1 33 

In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  seen  with  what 
magnificent  ceremonies  the  embassy  was  accompanied 
which  carried  to  Henri  de  Valois,  in  1573,  the  decree 
of  his  election  to  the  throne  of  Poland.  But  that 
which  was  sent  to  France  in  1645  to  solicit  the  hand 
of  Marie  Louise  was  even  more  splendid,  and  a  short 
description  of  it  will  enable  our  readers  to  reah'se  the 
luxury  of  old  Poland  in  its  days  of  grandeur.  The 
king,  now  no  longer  young,  had  fallen  in  love  with 


COIN    OF   LADISLAUS   IV. 


Marie  Louise  of  Gonzaga,  a  princess  of  Mantua, 
on  merely  seeing  her  portrait,  and  immediately  sent 
messengers  to  Paris  where  she  was  living,  to  ask  her 
hand.  These  advances  having  been  received,  a 
second  embassy  much  more  numerous  than  the  first 
was  formed,  at  the  head  of  which  were  the  bishop  of 
Warmia,  Wenceslaus  Leszczynski,  and  Christopher 
Opalinski,  the  palatine  of  Posen.  The  French  Court 
had  been  for  some  time  staying  at  Fontainebleau, 
but  hastened  to  return  as  soon  as  it  was  ascertained 


134  ^^^   DECLTNE    OF    THE    COUNTRY. 

that  the  ambassadors  had  arrived  at  the  gates  of  the 
capital.  While  awaiting  the  day  of  their  solemn 
entry,  which  was  fixed  for  Sunday,  Oct.  29,  1645, 
they  remained  at  Reuilly  in  a  country  house  belong- 
ing to  M.  de  Rambouillet.  On  the  appointed  da\^  M. 
de  Belize,  who  introduced  the  ambassadors,  brought 
to  their  place  of  residence  the  Due  d'Elboeuf  anJ  his 
son,  the  Comte  d'Harcourt,  who  were  chosen  by  the 
king  and  queen  regent  to  accompany  thj  Polish 
ambassadors.  They  were  joined  by  several  of  the 
nobility,  but  matters  of  etiquette,  some  of  which  had 
to  be  settled,  injured  the  effect  of  the  ceremony,  as 
the  day  was  already  far  advanced  when  the  ambas- 
sadors appeared  at  the  Porte  Saint  Antoine. 

In  spite  of  all  this  their  arrival  caused  an  agreeable 
surprise,  and  the  Parisians,  who  came  to  meet  them 
with  the  intention  of  exercising  their  wits  at  their 
expense,  were  soon  obliged  to  admire  instead  of 
criticise  unfavourably.  At  the  head  of  the  procession 
came  Girault,  who  assisted  De  Belize,  and  carried 
out  all  directions  for  the  maintenance  of  orJ.cr.  Be- 
hind him  came  Chlapowski,  captain  of  the  heyduks 
or  guards  of  the  palatine  of  Posen  ;  he  was  dressed 
in  a  tight-fitting  coat  of  yellow  satin,  and  a  long 
scarlet  cloak,  trimmed  with  sable.  His  cap  was  of 
cloth  of  gold,  with  cranes'  feathers  on  the  top,  fastened 
with  precious  stones.  In  his  hands  he  had  a  silver- 
guilt  mace.  On  one  side  he  wore  a  scimitar,  mounted 
with  silver,  and  on  the  other  side  a  sword.  They 
were  both  set  with  precious  stones.  The  housings  of 
his  magnificent  charger  were  of  cloth  of  gold,  the 
stirrups  of  solid  silver.     Parts  of  the  harness  consisted 


THE  POLISH  EMBASSY.  I35 

of  delicately  worked  silver  chains.  Thirty  footmen 
followed  him,  dressed  in  jackets  of  red  cloth.  They 
carried  carbines  and  battle-axes.  All  had  their  heads 
shaved  in  the  Polish  fashion  ;  that  is,  with  only  a  tuft 
of  hair  at  the  top.  They  had  long  moustaches. 
Four  guards  dressed  in  the  same  way  preceded 
them. 

Then  appeared  Pieczowski,  the  captain  of  the 
guards  of  the  Bishop  of  Warmia.  His  costume  was 
like  that  of  Chlapowski.  He  had  the  same  company 
of  men  to  attend  him,  but  dressed  in  different  colours. 
Trzeciecki,  the  first  gentleman  of  the  chamber  of 
the  palatine,  who  followed  next,  was  clothed  in  a 
pelisse  of  violet  satin,  and  a  Kontusz,  or  long  mantle 
without  a  collar — the  favourite  national  dress  of  the 
Poles  to  this  day,  and  one  in  which  they  frequently 
make  their  appearance  in  the  diet  at  Cracow. 
Trzeciecki  held  a  great  hammer,  with  a  handle  of 
silver-gilt.  Precious  stones  sparkled  on  his  sword 
and  his  scimitar.  He  was  followed  by  twenty-four 
gentlemen  on  horseback.  Gowarzewski  came  next, 
squire  to  the  Bishop  of  Warmia,  and  first  gentleman 
of  his  chamber.  He  also  was  gorgeousl)^  apparelled 
in  white  satin  with  a  crimson  velvet  mantle,  and  he 
carried  a  golden  mace.  Six  trumpeters  followed  ; 
there  were  also  mounted  soldiers  who  played  military 
music.  The  rest  of  the  Polish  nobles  who  followed 
were  all  dressed  in  the  same  gorgeous  style.  Several 
Polish  gentlemen,  who  were  residing  in  Paris,  joined 
the  procession  of  their  countrymen.  The  French 
Court  witnessed  the  brilliant  cortege,  and  thousands  of 
people  swarmed  in  the  streets  as  the  cavalcade  went 


136  THE   DECLINE   OF    THE    COUNTRY, 

slowly  past.  It  was  terminated  by  many  splendid 
carriages,  filled  with  confessors,  secretaries,  medical 
men,  and  other  persons  attached  to  the  suite  of  tlic 
ambassadors.  But  of  all  the  members  of  the  proces- 
sion none  was  more  gorgeous  than  the  Bishop  of 
Warmia,  who  blazed  with  diamonds.  The  cortege  at 
length  descended  at  the  Hotel  de  Vendome.  On  the 
31st  of  the  same  month  the  Polish  ambassadors  had 
an  audience  of  the  King,  Louis  XIV.,  then  a  mere 
boy  and  Anne  of  Austria,  the  Queen- Regent,  in  the 
Palais  Royal  in  the  great  gallery.  After  this  cere- 
mony was  over,  they  proceeded  to  the  Hotel  de 
Nevers,  to  offer  their  salutations  to  their  future  queen. 
The  Bishop  of  Warmia  made  a  speech  to  her  in  Latin, 
in  the  name  of  the  two  ambassadors,  who  then  .pre- 
sented to  her,  together  with  the  letter  of  the  King  of 
Poland,  a  cross  made  of  six  diamonds.  The  Bishop 
of  Orleans  answered  on  her  behalf  in  another  Latin 
speech.  Fresh  compliments  were  exchanged,  and 
the  ambassadors  retired.  The  marriage  was  cele- 
brated on  the  5th  of  November  following.  At  mid-day 
the  palatine  set  out  from  the  Hotel  de  Vendome, 
accompanied  by  the  gentlemen  of  his  suite,  on  horse- 
back, even  more  richly  dressed  than  on  the  day  when 
they  arrived. 

The  princess,  Marie  Louis,  was  married  in  the 
chapel  of  the  Palais  Royal  to  the  palatine,  who 
represented  the  King  of  Poland.  In  the  name  of  his 
royal  master  he  offered  to  the  bride  a  magnificent 
ring.  After  the  blessing,  they  placed  on  the  head 
of  the  princess  a  crown,  made  in  imitation  of  that 
of   Poland,   and  enriched  with   pearls  and  diamonds. 


POLISH   COOKERY.  I37 

Anne  of  Austria  commissioned  a  certain  Madame 
de  Guebriant  to  accompany  the  young  queen  to  the 
strange  country  which  thenceforward  was  to  become 
her  home.  This  lady  was  widow  of  a  French  marshal. 
On  the  27th  of  November,  1645,  after  many  other 
banquets  and  festivities,  the  ambassadors  departed  for 
Poland  with  their  new  sovereign.  An  old  English 
traveller,  Peter  Mundy,  has  left  a  manuscript  account 
of  his  adventures,  still  preserved  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  containing  some  curious  details  about  Poland, 
which  he  had  visited  among  other  countries.  He 
was  present  when  the  new  queen  entered  Poland, 
and  has  described  some  of  the  festivities  which  took 
place  ;  among  other  cities  the  reception  given  by 
Danzig  was  very  magnificent.  He  tells  us  that 
neither  bridegroom  nor  bride  were  young  ;  "  Hee  then 
aboute  50,  and  shee  37  yeares  of  age." 

But  we  have  more  copious  information  from 
another  source.  The  secretary  of  Madame  de 
Guebriant  was  named  Le  Laboureur,  and  has  left 
an  interesting  account  of  the  journey  of  the  new 
Queen.  Ladislaus  did  not  survive  his  wedding  more 
than  eighteen  months.  The  Frenchmen  of  the  time 
of  our  secretary  shewed  the  same  contempt  for  a 
foreign  cuisine  as  their  descendants  do  now,  to  judge 
by  the  account  he  gives  of  the  Polish  dishes  : 

"  The  preparation  of  the  viands  was  very  fine,  and  so 
well  arranged  that  the  officers  did  not  boast  without 
reason  of  having  taken  a  great  deal  of  trouble  ;  the 
order  in  which  the  things  were  arranged,  and  their 
appearance  pleased  the  eyes  extremely,  and  truly 
gave    an  appetite.      But   those   who  first  tasted   the 


138  THE   DECLINE   OF    THE    COUNTRY. 

sauces  did  not  return  to  them,  and  in  a  short  time 
one  saw  a  marvellous  temperance  diffused  generally 
among  all  the  French.  It  was  only  the  Poles  who 
exulted  over  them,  praising  loudly  the  goodly 
number  of  spices,  the  saffron  and  the  salt,  which 
the  cooks  had  lavished  so  prodigally.  They  might 
well  pledge  the  health  of  our  people,  who  did  not  so 
freely  or  so  heartily  reply  to  them.  I  had  the 
curiosity  to  come  to  these  repasts  several  times  ;  and 
I  may  truly  say  that  never  did  the  picture  of  the 
marriage  of  Cana  appear  to  me  better  represented  for 
the  dishes  and  the  meats  were  always  in  the  same 
state.  On  the  pates,  the  greater  part  of  which  were 
gilded,  there  were  figures  painted  with  the  feathers 
or  hair  of  the  animals  which  they  contained,  and  also 
on  the  dishes.  These  objects  amused  the  sight,  while 
the  music,  which  was  at  the  other  end  of  the  hall, 
delighted  the  mind  and  ear.  The  dessert  consisted  of 
several  candied  fruits,  sugared  delicacies  and  con- 
fectionary, and  also  of  certain  frozen  dainties,  of 
which  little  was  eaten.  This  is  the  reason  why  who- 
ever could  escape  from  these  feasts  ran  to  our  inn, 
where  we  ate  in  the  French  style  all  the  meats  which 
the  Poles  had  supplied  to  our  purveyors." 

In  one  of  our  concluding  chapters  another  descrip- 
tion will  be  given  from  contemporary  accounts  of  the 
Polish  banquets.  The  cogiplaints  of  the  Frenchman 
will  remind  us  of  those  of  Desportes,  already  quoted. 
As  regards  the  frozen  dish  which  seems  to  have 
scandalised  Le  Laboureur  so  much,  it  may  possibly 
have  been  the  cholodziec,  a  favourite  Lithuanian  pre- 
paration, often  mentioned  approvingly  by  Mickicwicz 


THE    COSSACKS.  139 

in  Pan  Tadetisz.  Its  ingredients  are  said  to  have 
been  beetroot  leaves,  cream  and  fruit  congealed. 

But  to  return  to  Ladislaus,  the  king.  The  most 
important  event  of  his  reign  was  the  rebellion  of  the 
Cossacks  under  Bogdan  Khmelnitski.  A  few  words 
may  here  be  said  in  explanation  of  the  term  Cossack, 
which  is  said,  with  considerable  probability,  to  be 
derived  from  the  Turkish  word  Kazak,  meaning  a 
robber.  The  origin  of  these  bold  soldiers  can  be 
traced  to  the  fugitives  of  many  nations,  Poles, 
Russians,  Malo-Russians,  Tatars,  and  others  who 
occupied  the  vast  steppes  stretching  between  the 
confines  of  Poland  and  Turkey.  They  had  es- 
tabh'shed  a  kind  of  military  republic  on  some  islands 
in  the  Dnieper,  called  the  Sech,  and  into  this  no 
woman  was  allowed  to  penetrate.  Traces  of  earth- 
works thrown  up  on  the  banks  of  the  river  are  to  be 
found  even  in  the  present  day. 

These  Cossacks  elected  their  own  hetman  or 
governor,  a  word  in  all  probability  derived  from  the 
German  haiiptman,  as  is  shown  by  its  analogous  use 
in  Lithuania  and  Bohemia.  He  carried  a  mace  as  a 
badge  of  his  authority.  Like  the  consuls  of  ancient 
Rome,  he  could  only  claim  this  authority  over  them 
when  he  led  them  forth  to  battle.  They  ate  their 
meals  at  public  tables  ;  and  appear  to  have  passed 
most  of  their  time  in  drunken  orgies.  They  set  out 
for  their  naval  expeditions  in  chaiki  (a  word  which 
is  probably  connected  with  the  Turkish  caique),  and 
carried  on  their  depredations  under  the  very  walls  of 
Constantinople.  But  to  read  of  their  achievements 
we  must  make  ourselves  acquainted   with  the  work 


140  THE   DECLINE    OF    THE    COUNTRY. 

of  Messrs.  Dragomanov  and  Antonovich,  containing 
their  songs,  which,  unfortunately,  has  never  been 
completed. 

The  prudent  policy  of  Stephen  Batory  had  con- 
verted these  brave  marauders  into  regiments  of 
frontiersmen,  who  could  restrain  the  constant  ir- 
ruptions of  Turk,  Tatar,  and  Wallachian,  from 
whom  the  Poles  so  grievously  suffered.  They  were, 
however,  staunch  adherents  of  the  Greek  Church, 
and,  as  such,  were  not  likely  to  be  left  alone  by  the 
J  jsuit  emissaries  of  Sigismund  III.  We  have  already 
seen  with  what  insolence  their  request  was  met  to 
have  a  seat  in  the  diet.  In  the  transactions  between 
them  and  the  Poles  we  constantly  find  that  faith  was 
not  kept  with  them.  Pawluk,  one  of  their  hetmans, 
was  induced  to  go  to  Warsaw  on  a  promise  of  safe 
conduct,  and  was  there  decapitated.  Bogdan  Khmel- 
nitski  defeated  the  Poles  at  the  battle  of  Yellow 
Springs  (Zholtia  Vodi)  ;  but  just  about  this  time 
King  Ladislaus  died  at  Merecz  in  Lithuania,  be- 
tween Grodno  and  Wilno,  May  20,  1648,  leaving  his 
kingdom  in  a  great  state  of  confusion. 

In  1641,  at  a  diet,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  re- 
nounced his  homage  to  the  Polish  republic.  We  can 
see  this  small  country,  which  was  blessed  with  such 
able  rulers,  slowly  increasing  at  the  expense  of  its 
turbulent  and  imprudent  neighbour.  The  school  of 
the  Socinians  at  Rakow  was  abolished  in  1638;  this 
was  the  place  at  which  the  famous  catechism  was 
issued  by  the  brothers  Socini.  On  the  28th  of 
August,  1645,  met  at  Thorn  the  Colloquium  Charita- 
tivum,  as  it  was  called,  the  object  of  which  was  to 


COLLOQUIUM   CHARITATIVUM.  I4I 

reconcile  the  various  religious  sects  by  which  the 
Republic  was  agitated.  This  had  been  convened 
by  the  express  wish  of  the  king.  But,  to  begin  with, 
the  Socinians  were  excluded.  Those  who  attended 
the  congress  held  thirty-six  meetings,  but  their  con- 
ferences bore  no  fruit.  The  Colloquium  was  closed  on 
the  2 1st  of  November  with  very  little  ceremony.  Its 
transactions  were  published  at  Warsaw  in  1646  under 
the  title,  ''Acta  conventus  Thoruniensis  celebrati  anno 
164s,  pro  ineunda  ratione  coinponendoriini  Dissidiorum 
in  Religione  per  Regnum  PoloniceT 

Ladislaus  left  no  children,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  brother  John  Casimir  (Jan  Kazimierz),  who 
ascended  the  throne  in  1649,  and  abdicated  in  1668. 
John  was  elected  by  the  diet  on  November  20,  1648, 
and  crowned  on  the  17th  of  January  in  the  following 
year.  The  other  candidates  for  the  throne  were 
Alexis  of  Russia,  the  father  of  Peter  the  Great,  and 
Ragoczy,  Prince  of  Transylvania,  a  celebrated  Hun- 
garian hero.  The  glorious  reign  of  Stephen  Batory 
had  made  such  a  candidate  still  possible.  The  idea 
of  a  union  of  the  two  great  Slavonic  powers  under 
the  Tsar  frequently  came  up,  but  the  Poles  did  not 
favour  it. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  king  was  an  attempt 
to  come  to  terms  with  Bogdan  ;  but  the  negotiations 
were  brought  to  an  end  by  the  treachery  of  the  Polish 
general,  Wisniowiecki,  who  fell  upon  the  Cossacks 
while  they  were  deliberating  about  the  terms  of 
the  proposed  convention,  and  defeated  them  with 
great  slaughter.  Bogdan,  however,  rallied  and  col- 
lected another  army,  which  was  defeated  on  June  28, 


Serenissim^etPotentissim^Pbinceps  acDominj. 
DloANNES  CasimirtjsD.G  RexTolonl^.Magn/ 
DuxLithuanle^Russle^Prussle.Masovlb,  Sa 

MOGITl/ELlVONI/f:,SM3LENSCn,SEVETtLE,CZEBNIHC5VL£' 
[NECNCJNSCECOR  GOTHDBX^^NDALORIIKQjlEREDTrAR  ^EX . 


JOHN  CASIMIR. 


LIBERUM    VETO.  I43 

165 1,  at  the  battle  of  Beresteczko  in  Galicia.  The 
struggle  partook  to  a  large  extent  of  the  nature  of  a 
holy  war,  as  the  Cossacks  and  Malo-Russians  generally 
were  of  the  Greek  faith,  and  the  objects  of  their  special 
hatred  were  the  Roman  Catholics  and  Jews.  Through- 
out the  contest  the  massacres  committed  on  both 
sides  were  appalling,  and  give  one  a  curious  idea  of 
the  state  of  the  country.  Bogdan,  finding  at  last  that 
single-handed  he  stood  no  chance  of  resisting  the 
Polish  king,  sent  an  emissary  to  Moscow  in  1652, 
offering  to  transfer  himself  and  his  Cossack  de- 
pendents to  the  allegiance  of  the  Tsar.  Nego- 
tiations were  finally  concluded  at  Pereiaslavl,  when 
Khmelnitski  and  seventeen  Malo-Russian  regiments 
took  the  oath  to  Buturlin,  the  Tsar'^s  commissioner. 

At  a  diet  in  165 1  the  first  instance  occurred  of  a 
single  nuntius  bringing  the  proceedings  to  a  close, 
by  using  the  libenivi  veto,  or,  as  it  was  called  in 
Polish,  niepozivalam,  I  forbid.  This  was  done  by 
Sicinski,  a  deputy  from  Upita,  in  Lithuania.  We 
have  previously  said  that  the  germ  of  this  custom 
can  be  traced  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  King 
Alexander,  and,  indeed,  it  has  been  shown  that 
unanimity  of  vote  was  an  idea  deeply  rooted 
in  the  Slavonic  mind.  It  can  be  found  in  the 
early  Sobori  or  assemblies  of  Russia  ;  but  it  carried 
with  it  many  disadvantages  :  it  was  easy  to  hire  a 
venal  nuntius.  "  The  lord  high  treasurer,"  says  Lind 
in  his  "  Letters  concerning  the  Present  State  of 
Poland,"  London,  1773,  p.  32,  "had  a  complete  con- 
trol of  public  finance  ;  he  was  appointed  by  the 
king,  but  not  liable  to  be  removed  by  him  even   in 


144  ^^^  DECLINE   OF   THE   COUNTRY. 

case  of  mal-administration.  His  accounts  were  to  be 
delivered  to  the  diet ;  but  it  was  easy  for  a  treasurer, 
who  had  embezzled  the  public  money,  to  evade 
givhifj  them  :  either  they  were  brought  in  too  late 
to  be  examined — for  the  sessions  of  each  diet  were 
limited  to  six  weeks — or  during  the  course  of  the 
examination  some  venal  nuntius  was  hired  (and 
enough  were  to  be  found),  who  pronounced  the  fatal 
velOy  and  the  diet  was  dissolved."  An  instance  is  re- 
corded by  Bernard  Connor,  the  physician  of  John 
Sobieski,  who  has  left  us  an  interesting  book  on 
Poland,  that  Count  Morsztyn,  great  treasurer  of  the 
country,  sent  a  considerable  quantity  of  plunder  out 
of  Poland,  and  bought  an  estate  in  France,  contriving 
to  avoid  the  inquiries  of  the  diet.  In  this  way,  not 
only  the  treasurer,  but  the  other  great  officers  of  the 
realm,  the  commander-in-chief  and  marshal  among 
others,  got  free  from  the  control  of  the  diet.  It  was 
only  before  the  diet  that  a  noble  accused  of  capital 
crimes  could  be  brought  to  trial,  and  it  would  be  very 
convenient  for  him  to  stay  the  proceedings  of  the  only 
tribunal  by  which  he  could  be  convicted.  It  was  also 
an  admirable  way  of  opposing  the  levying  of  taxes, 
which  could  only  be  raised  by  the  consent  of  the  diet. 
The  Dissidents  were  not  likely  to  fare  well  under  the 
rule  of  John  Casimir,  who  had  been  ordained  priest 
before  coming  to  the  throne,  and  even  held  the  rank 
of  Cardinal  in  the  Romish  Church.  They  were  cruelly 
persecuted  in  Great  Poland,  and  subscriptions  were 
raised  for  them  in  England  and  Holland.  By  an 
enactment  of  the  diet  of  1658  the  Socinians  were 
expelled  the  country.      But  the  misfortunes  of  the 


INVASION   OF   THE   SWEDES.  I45 

reign  of  John  Casimir  were  not  limited  to  internal 
disturbances  ;  the  foreign  wars  of  the  Republic  were 
especially  disastrous. 

In  consequence  of  the  Polish  monarch  asserting 
his  claim  to  the  throne  of  Sweden  as  a  member  of 
the  house  of  Vasa,  Charles  Gustavus,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded on  the  abdication  of  Christina,  took  advantage 
of  the  weakness  of  the  country  and  invaded  Poland 
with  sixty  thousand  men.  Both  Warsaw  and  Cracow 
submitted  to  him,  and  he  advanced  as  far  as  Lem- 
berg  in  Galicia.  John  Casimir  fled  into  Silesia,  but 
his  subjects  rallied  round  him,  and  he  succeeded 
eventually  in  driving  out  Charles  Gustavus,  who  had 
been  assisted  in  many  places  by  the  Polish  king's 
own  rebellious  subjects.  No  treachery  is  more 
remarkable  than  that  of  Opalinski,  the  voievode  of 
Posen,  who  betrayed  that  province  to  the  Swedes, 
notwithstanding  the  railing  satires  which  he  has 
written  on  the  universal  corruption  of  mankind. 
But  Opalinski  did  not  long  survive  his  shameful 
treason.  Among  the  allies  of  Charles  was  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg,  ever  prudent  and  watching 
his  opportunity,  who,  in  consequence  of  the  assis- 
tance which  he  rendered  to  the  king,  was  definitively 
released  from  his  homage  in  1657.  The  Swedish 
king  is  even  said  to  have  proposed  the  partition  of 
the  country  :  he  offered  Great  Poland  to  the  Elector 
of  Brandenburg,  Little  Poland  to  the  Duke  of  Tran- 
sylvania, and  a  great  part  of  Lithuania  to  one  of  the 
great  Radziwill  family.  But  Poland's  hour  had  not 
yet  come.  We  get  some  curious  details  of  the  war 
from  the  diary  of  Patrick  Gordon,  the  Scotch  ad- 

ir 


146  THE    DECLINE   OF    THE    COUNTRY. 

venturer,  which  is  still  preserved  in  manuscript  in 
Russia.  Gordon  fought  at  first  on  the  side  of  the 
Swedes,  but  afterwards,  having  been  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Poles,  was  forced  to  join  their  ranks.  But 
we  soon  find  him  with  the  Swedes  again,  dispersed 
through  whose  regiments  were  a  great  many  of  his 
countrymen.  In  1658  John  Sobieski,  the  future  con- 
queror of  the  Turks,  tried  to  secure  the  services  of 
the  Scotch  adventurer  as  commander  of  a  company 
of  dragoons  in  a  body  of  troops  stationed  on  the 
Sobieski  estates.  This  was  characteristic  of  Poland, 
each  nobleman  having  his  own  little  army.  There 
was  no  statute  of  maintenance  to  restrain  them. 
Gordon  declined  the  offer  ;  he  tells  us  in  his  diary 
that  he  found  Sobieski  courteous,  but  a  hard  bar- 
gainer. In  1660  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Oliwa,  near 
Danzig,  in  which  John  Casimir  abandoned  all  claims 
to  the  throne  of  Sweden  and  ceded  all  Livonia, 
except  a  small  portion  on  the  banks  of  the  Dw^ina. 
Before  beginning  our  account  of  the  wretched  in- 
ternal tumults  which  harassed  Poland  during  the 
last  years  of  this  sovereign's  rule,  we  will  mention 
the  further  losses  of  territory  which  she  underwent. 
In  1667  was  signed  the  truce  of  Andruszowo  (near 
Smolensk),  by  which  Smolensk  was  ceded  to  Alexis, 
the  Tsar  of  Russia,  and  with  it  Kiev  and  all  the  left 
bank  of  the  Dnieper.  Kiev  was  to  be  given  back  to 
Poland  in  two  years'  time,  but  Alexis  kept  it  because 
the  Poles  did  not  fulfil  the  terms  of  the  truce.  They 
finally  abandoned  all  claim  to  it  in  1686.  The  king 
was  always  very  much  under  the  influence  of  Marie 
Louise,  his  brother's  wife,  whom  he  had  married.    In 


MARTE   LOVlSn.  147 

the  commonplace  book  of  the  Polish  noble  Jan 
Golliusz,  now  preserved  in  the  Britisli  Museum,  from 
which  Prof.  Kallenbach  has  pubh'shed  some  interest- 
ing extracts,  the  following  epigram  is  to  be  found  : — 

•*  Carmina  de  noxiis  interitum 

Poloniae  acceleraturis  conscriptae  {sic) 

A  quodam  equite  Polono.     Anno,  1662. 

Faemina  Rex,  opressus  {sic)  Eques,  Seruusque  Senatus 

Vanaque  Lex,  exhausta  Plebs,  ac  falsa  moneta  ; 

Irrita  pax,  nee  tuta  tides,  Clerique  potestas : 

Ultima  fata  tui  crede  o  Sarmatia  regni." 

The  queen  was  favourable  to  a  French  alliance, 
and  detested  Austria  and  her  traditional  policy  of 
interfering  in  the  affairs  of  Poland.  She  accordingly 
persuaded  her  husband  to  propose  in  the  diet  that 
the  Duke  of  Enghien,  son  of  the  great  Conde,  should 
be  named  his  successor.  He  had  married  her  niece. 
This  caused  a  considerable  commotion,  as  it  was 
contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  Polish  constitution. 
A  stormy  scene  occurred,  and  it  was  on  this  occasion 
that  John  Casimir  told  the  Poles  that  their  constant  | 
dissensions  must  certainly  lead  to  the  dismemberment: 
of  the  Republic,  uttering  the  memorable  words,  '*  Uti- 
7iam  sim  falsus  vates''  An  active  member  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  king  was  the  powerful  palatine  Lubomirski. 
In  consequence  of  this  he  incurred  the  hostility  of  the 
queen,  and  broke  out  into  open  rebellion,  having  the 
command  of  his  large  body  of  retainers,  as  every 
nobleman  had  in  the  good  old  days  of  Poland,  and  a 
state  of  society  was  produced  something  like  England 
experienced  in  the  time  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses. 
He  was  not  quelled  without  considerable   bloodshed 


148  THE   DECLINE    OF    THE    COUNTRY, 

on  both  sides,  and  retiring  to  Brcslau  (Wroclaw), 
just  over  the  Polish  frontier,  in  Austrian  territory, 
died  soon  after. 

In  1667  the  queen  expired,  a  woman  of  beauty  and 
spirit,  but  of  a  turbulent  disposition.  The  kingdom 
was  in  a  deplorable  condition,  exhausted  by  foreign 
wars  and  internal  tumults.  The  devastations  caused 
by  the  Tatars  and  Cossacks  must  be  added  to  these 
disasters. 

John  Casimir,  as  we  have  already  said,  was  originally 
an  ecclesiastic  ;  he  now  resolved  to  betake  himself 
again  to  the  cloister  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight,  worn 
out  by  anxiety  and  the  sufferings  which  he  saw  every- 
where around  him,  the  turbulence  of  the  nobility,  and 
feeling  keenly  the  loss  of  his  wife.  He  accordingly 
resigned  his  crown  on  the  i6th  of  September,  1668. 
Before  doing  so  he  had  consulted  the  other  sovereigns 
of  Europe,  who  dissuaded  him  from  the  step.  His 
speech  on  the  occasion  has  been  preserved,  and  has 
been  rightly  characterised  as  a  fine  piece  of  eloquence. 
A  copy  of  it  is  to  b3  found  among  the  Rawlinsonian 
manuscripts  in  the  Bodleian  Library.  It  is  too  long 
to  be  quoted  in  extenso,  but  the  following  sentence 
is  eloquent  :  "  Igitur  fiineris  regies  mece  dignitatis 
stipei'stes,  seculo  vero  Jiuic  inortnns,  pro  pnlcJiro  hoc 
solio  sepulcJiriim^  proque  regali  globo  terrce  glebani 
e/igo." 

John  Casimir  had  warned  the  Poles  of  the  inevitable 
effect  of  their  constant  dissensions,  as  Skarga  had 
warned  them  in  his  sermons  before  the  diet.  He 
had  even  prophesied  that  the  Russians  would  take 
Lithuania,  the  Prussians  Poland,  and  the  Austrians 


ABDICATION   OF  JOHN   ^ASIMIR. 


149 


Galicia.  With  John  Casimir  the  race  of  the  Jagiellos, 
continued  in  the  branch  h"ne  of  the  Vasas,  ceased. 
Up  to  this  time  the  hne  of  the  Jagiellos  had  been 
more  or  less  continued,  with  the  intercalary  reign  of 
Batory,  for  we  need  not  pay  much  attention  to  the 
five  months'  rule  of  Henry  of  Valois.  In  fact,  in  the 
person  of  John  Casimir  terminated  the  three  lines  of 
the  Piasts,  the  Jagiellos,  and  the  Vasas.  According 
to  a  recent  notice  in  a  German  newspaper,  a  Prince 
Ignaz  Jagiello   died  at  Grodno  on  the   i6th  of  July 


COIN    OF   JOHN    CASIMIR. 


last  year  (1891)  ;  he  is  said  to  have  been  the  last  of 
the  Jagiellos. 

Bernard  Connor,  the  physician  of  John  Sobieski, 
previously  quoted,  writes  as  follows  :  "  While  I  was 
at  Warsaw  I  spoke  with  several  old  gentlemen,  who 
told  me  that  Casimir  the  day  after  his  resignation, 
observing  the  people  hardly  paid  him  the  respect  due 
to  a  gentleman,  much  less  to  a  king,  seemed  to  have 
repented  heartily  of  the  folly  he  had  committed. 
After  his  abdication  the  king  retired  to  France,  in 
which  country  through  the  intrigues  of  Richelieu, 
he  had  been  detained  for  two  years  (^1638-1640)  as 


150  THE   DECLINE   OF   THE    COUNTRY. 

a  hostage  wliile  passing  its  coasts.  A  few  words 
may  be  devoted  to  this  romantic  episode  before  we 
close  our  account  of  his  career. 

In  his  youth  Casimir,  who  was  eager  for  miHtary 
adventure,  had  served  in  the  German  army  against 
the  French  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  His  brief 
appearance,  however,  in  this  capacity  was  not  marked 
by  success,  and  after  being  defeated  in  a  battle  by 
the  French  general  Merode,  he  returned  to  Poland. 
Here,  disliking  an  idle  life  at  Court,  he  was  induced 
to  travel.  His  plan  was  to  visit  first  the  northern 
parts  of  Italy,  then  to  repair  to  Spain,  and  on  the 
way  back  to  see  something  of  France,  England,  and 
Holland.  He  meditated  then  returning  to  Italy  and 
the  Papal  States  for  the  purpose  of  paying  his  homage 
to  the  Pope,  and  so  on  by  the  nearest  route  to  Poland ; 
and  it  was  calculated  that  his  journey  would  take 
three  years.  To  avoid  troublesome  ceremonials,  John 
Casimir  was  to  travel  under  the  simple  name  of 
*'  ambassador."  He  left  Warsaw  with  his  suite  on 
the  27th  of  January,  1638,  and  it  is  said  that  the 
astrologers,  who  were  consulted  about  his  journey, 
warned  him  to  beware  of  France.  On  the  shores  of 
this  country,  however,  the  Polish  prince  was  so 
foolish  as  to  land,  and  to  his  surprise  found  himself 
detained  by  the  orders  of  Richelieu,  who  then  virtually 
governed  France.  After  having  been  transferred  from 
one  place  of  residence  to  another,  and  enduring  many 
petty  indignities,  John  Casimir  was  finally  released. 
A  Polish  embassy  made  its  appearance  in  Paris  on 
the  17th  of  January,  1640,  and  the  terms  of  his 
surrender  were  settled.    He  did  not  receive  his  liberty 


DEATH   OF  JOHN   CAST  MIR.  I5I 

till  he  had   undertaken    never  to   bear  arms  against 
France  so  long  as  the  Spanish  war  should  continue. 

Casimir  was  now,  in  the  decline  of  life,  to  visit  the 
country  again.  Louis  XIV.  received  him  kindly, 
and  gave  him  the  Abbeys  of  St.  Germain  and  St. 
Martin,  from  the  revenues  of  which  he  drew  his 
subsistence,  as  the  Poles  did  not  trouble  themselves 
to  continue  the  pension  which  they  had  promised 
him.  He  does  not,  however,  seem  to  have  remained 
in  the  priestly  office  till  his  death,  although  he  sur- 
vived his  abdication  only  four  years.  He  is  said 
to  have  secretly  married  Marie  Mignot,  who  had 
originally  been  a  laundress,  but  was  then  widow  of 
the  Marechal  de  I'Hopital.  John  Casimir  died  on 
the  i6th  of  December,  1672,  at  Nevers.  His  body 
was  brought  to  Cracow  and  buried  in  the  cathedral 
at  the  same  time  with  that  of  his  successor  Michael, 
the  day  before  the  coronation  of  Sobieski.  His 
heart  was  given  to  the  monks  of  the  Abbey  of  St. 
Germain  and  now  rests  in  the  Church  of  St.  Germain 
des  pres  at  Paris,  where  there  is  a  handsome  monu- 
ment to  his  memory  with  a  long  Latin  inscription. 
The  king  is  represented  kneeling,  holding  out  his 
crown  and  sceptre.  Underneath  is  a  well-executed 
bas-relief  of  a  battle  between  the  Poles  and  Cossacks. 
The  last  illness  of  the  priestly  king  is  said  to  have 
been  aggravated  by  his  receiving  the  news  that  Ka- 
mieniec  in  Podolia  had  been  surrendered  to  the  Turks 
by  the  disgraceful  peace  of  Buczacz.  Such  was  the  end 
of  John  Casimir,  an  amiable  but  weak  man,  during 
whose  reign  the  country  saw  an  unusual  amount  of 
disasters.     In  consequence  of  his  banishment  of  the 


152  THE   DECLINE    OF   THE    COUNTRY, 

Socinians  from  Poland  he  was  honoured  by  Pope 
Alexander  with  the  title  of  Rex  Orthodoxus.  Three 
candidates  for  the  vacant  throne  now  made  their 
appearance  —the  Prince  of  Conde,  the  Prince  of 
Neuburg,  supported  by  Louis  XIV.,  and  Charles  of 
Lorraine,  the  candidate  of  Austria.  It  will  be 
seen  how  completely  the  election  of  the  Polish 
sovereign  was  a  matter  of  European  competition 
and  we  might  be  sure  that  it  would  be  difficult 
to  find  in  such  candidates  any  real  sympathies 
with  the  Poles  as  a  nation.  The  first  of  the  three 
mentioned  was  supported  by  John  Sobieski,  who  had 
now  for  some  time  been  a  very  prominent  man  in 
Poland.  The  Diet  met  for  election  in  1669.  The 
nobles  made  their  appearance  in  gorgeous  fashion. 
Prince  Michael  Radziwill  came  with  six  hundred 
dragoons,  not  to  mention  the  gentlemen  of  his 
party,  and  other  noblemen  brought  even  larger  con- 
tingents. We  must  remember  that  the  Polish  nobles 
were  allowed  to  keep  their  own  guards,  both  of  horse 
and  foot,  and  it  is  said  that  some  appeared  at  the 
diet  with  a  thousand  men. 

On  the  present  occasion  there  was  a  great  deal 
of  tumult,  and  some  of  the  posly  or  mintii  are  said  to 
have  been  actually  killed.  But  during  one  of  the 
meetings  of  the  diet  some  one  called  out  that  a  Piast 
ought  to  be  elected,  i.e.,  one  of  the  blood  of  the  ancient 
Polish  sovereigns,  and  the  choice  fell  upon  Michael 
Korybut  Wisniowiecki,  of  a  noble  family  indeed,  but 
so  poor  that,  according  to  some  writers,  it  was  not  at 
first  supposed  that  his  candidature  would  meet  with 
any  supporters.     The  scene  at  the  election  has  been 


MICHAEL   KORYBUT. 


153 


described  in  the  valuable  contemporary  memoirs  of 
Jan  Chryzostom  Pasek  (Wilno,  1843).  Michael  was 
tliirty  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  election.  He  is 
said  to  have  shed  tears  and  to  have  been  as  averse  to 
sovereignty  as  the  Emperor  Claudius.     He  probably 


COIN   OF   MICHAEL. 


knew  that  he  would  have  to  rule  over  a  turbulent 
people,  who  would  show  but  little  respect  for  his 
authority.  In  1670  he  married  Eleonora,  the  sister 
of  the  German  Emperor  Leopold.  At  a  diet  held 
during  that  year,  the  nobles  bound  themselves  by  an 


154  T-f/E   DECLINE   OF   THE   COUNTRY. 

oath  not  to  make  use  of  the  liberum  veto,  but  in  spite 
of  their  resolution  that  very  diet  was  brought  to  an 
end  by  the  appearance  of  Zabokrzycki,  the  nuntius 
from  Wroclaw  in  Podolia.  In  the  year  1672,  the  Poles 
were  compelled  at  the  peace  of  Buczacz  to  cede 
Kamieniec  Podolski  to  the  Turks,  and  to  agree  to 
pay  them  a  yearly  tribute.  The  Ottomans  held  this 
picturesque  city  on  the  Dnieper  till  1699,  ^'^d  an 
elegant  minaret  adjoining  the  cathedral  there  still 
bears  testimony  to  their  former  occupation.  By 
the  great  victory  gained  by  Sobieski  at  Chocim 
in  the  following  year  much  was  done  to  repair 
the  Polish  losses  ;  the  day  before  the  battle  (loth 
of  November)  the  unhappy  Michael,  whose  short 
reign  had  been  one  of  continued  treason  and  con- 
spiracy on  the  part  of  his  subjects  and  disgrace  to 
the  country,  expired  at  Lemberg,  in  the  thirty-fifth 
year  of  his  age,  after  having  reigned  four  years  and  a 
few  months.  His  death  was  so  sudden  that  it  was 
attributed  by  some  to  poison  ;  others  think  that  he 
caused  it  by  his  excessive  gluttony.  He  was  a  man  of 
contemptible  character,  and  if  the  portraits  of  him 
which  have  been  preserved  may  be  relied  upon,  of 
singularly  unprepossessing  appearance,  with  swarthy 
and  coarse  features.  The  fortunes  of  Poland  had  now 
sunk  very  low,  but  her  star  was  destined  to  shine  for 
a  brief  period  in  the  glorious  reign  of  Sobieski,  and 
then  to  set,  perhaps  for  ever. 


IX. 

THE  REIGN   OF  JOHN   SOBIESKI. 
(1674- 1 696.) 

John  Sobteski,  the  deliverer  of  Vienna  from  the 
Turks,  was  the  son  of  James  Sobieski,  the  castellan 
of  Cracow,  and  was  born  in  1620.  His  father  wrote 
a  short  treatise  on  education  for  his  use,  which  has 
been  preserved,  and  illustrates  the  condition  of  Polish 
society  at  the  time. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Michael,  the  diet  met  at 
Warsaw  in  1674.  There  were  several  candidates ; 
among  others,  Charles  of  Lorraine,  and  Philip  of 
Neuburg,  again  put  forward  their  claims.  While  the 
nobles  were  still  in  session  Sobieski,  fresh  from  his 
glorious  victory,  entered  and  proposed  the  Prince  of 
Conde.  A  stormy  discussion  ensued,  and  in  the 
midst  of  it  one  of  the  nobles,  Jablonowski,  was  heard 
to  say,  "  Let  a  Pole  rule  over  Poland."  The  cry  was 
echoed  by  many  of  those  present,  and  Sobieski,  the 
foremost  man  of  the  country,  was  appointed  king 
under  the  title  of  John  III.,  not  without  some  op- 
position from  Michael  Pac,  the  hetman  of  Lithuania. 
But  he  had  no  time  to  rest  upon  his  laurels ;  in  the 


156  THE   REIGN    OF  JOHN   SOBIESKI. 

year  1676  he  was  obliged  to  proceed  to  the  field 
of  battle  to  encounter  an  invasion  of  the  Turks  in 
conjunction  with  the  Tatars,  under  the  command 
of  the  Seraskier  Ibrahim,  who  from  his  ferocious 
character  was  called  Shaitan,  or  devil.  Sobieski 
had  only  20,000  men  to  oppose  to  the  vast  host 
>*^ich  had  invaded  the  country.  For  some  time  he 
was  hemmed  in  by  his  adversaries  at  Zurawno,  in 
Galicia ;  but,  by  his  splendid  generalship  and  bravery, 
he  succeeded  in  rescuing  himself  and  his  soldiers, 
and  managed  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  Turkey,  by 
which  part  of  the  Ukraine  and  Podolia  were  got 
back. 

A  few  years  of  internal  struggles  followed,  in  which 
the  rebellious  diets  exhibited  more  anarchy  than 
ever  ;  at  a  time  when  the  king  could  have  put  the 
country  into  an  excellent  state  of  defence  he  was 
resisted  by  the  factions  which  were  too  powerful  for 
him.  The  Turks,  however,  were  now  preparing  for 
their  great  invasion  of  Austria,  and  the  prize  was  to 
be  the  imperial  city  of  Vienna.  This  siege  is  so  well 
known  that  it  will  only  be  necessary  here  to  give  the 
main  outlines  of  events. 

News  had  reached  the  city  on  the  8th  of  December, 
1682,  of  the  enormous  preparations  of  the  Turks. 
They  began  their  march  from  Belgrad,  about  the 
30th  of  June,  1683,  burning  and  plundering  all  before 
them,  and  committing  atrocious  massacres  of  the 
inoffensive  inhabitants.  On  the  7th  of  July  the 
pusillanimous  Emperor  Leopold  had  fled  from  the 
city.  His  countenance,  as  it  has  come  down  to  us 
on  the  canvas  of  many  a  painter,  shows  him  to  have 


SIEGE   OF   VIENNA.  1 57 

been  a  man  of  mean  capacity.  But  he  came  from  a 
house  not  noted  for  great  men.  Leopold,  mistrusting 
his  own  dominions,  retired  with  his  family  to  the 
Bavarian  fortress  of  Passau.  They  were  followed  by 
the  carriages  of  the  wealthier  inhabitants,  who  left 
the  city  to  the  number  of  60,000.  This  selfish 
conduct  aroused  the  indignation  of  the  people  wh§i 
were  left  behind  to  meet  their  fate.  Many  of  these 
fugitives,  however,  paid  the  penalty  of  their  cowardice, 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks  by  whom  they 
were  at  once  massacred.  The  great  diminution  in 
the  number  of  citizens  capable  of  bearing  arms, 
caused  by  this  defection,  somewhat  intimidated  the 
inhabitants  ;  but  something  like  confidence  was 
restored  by  the  arrival  of  Count  Stahremberg,  a 
tried  soldier,  to  whom  the  Emperor  had  committed 
the  defence  of  the  city.  All  classes,  including  even 
priests  and  women,  were  put  to  work  at  the  fortifi- 
cations, the  burgomaster.  Von  Liebenberg,  set  an 
admirable  example  by  his  unwearied  exertions.  The 
Imperial  archives  had  already  been  removed  ;  it  now 
only  remained  for  the  city  to  calmly  await  the 
approaching  danger  ;  fire  and  smoke  all  round  told 
of  the  towns  and  villages  which  had  fallen  into  the 
power  of  the  enemy.  The  number  of  men  under 
arms  in  the  city  amounted  to  20,000,  and  the  re- 
maining population  to  60,000.  At  sunrise  on  July 
14th,  the  invaders  appeared  before  Vienna,  a  countless 
horde  of  soldiers,  and  their  followers  with  baggage 
and  camels.  The  camp  was  arranged  in  the  form  of 
a  crescent,  and  conspicuous  above  all  other  things 
was  the  tent  of  the  Vizier  and  commander-in-chief, 


158  THE   REIGN  OF  yOHN  SOBlESKl. 

Kara  (black)  Mustapha,  which  was  of  gorgeous  green 
silk  ;  it  may  be  seen  preserved  in  the  museum  of 
Dresden,  together  with  many  other  trophies,  including 
one  of  the  great  camp  kettles. 

The  sad  fate  of  the  little  town  of  Perchboldsdorf, 
the  inhabitants  of  which  were  massacred  on  the  14th 
of  July,  gave  the  Viennese  a  token  of  what  they 
might  expect  if  their  city  was  taken.  Before  relief 
came  to  the  beleaguered  inhabitants,  they  had  under- 
gone many  perils,  not  the  least  of  which  were  a  fire 
which  broke  out  in  the  city,  but  was  luckily  got  under 
in  time,  and  a  disease  which  raged  among  them  on 
account  of  their  being  obliged  to  live  in  such  close 
quarters  and  their  food  being  chiefly  salt  meat.  The 
siege  teemed  with  picturesque  and  romantic  incidents, 
but  the  enumeration  of  them  would  occupy  too  much 
space.  It  is  a  continual  story  of  mining  and  counter- 
mining ;  of  furious  assaults  met  with  equal  fury  by  the 
besieged.  Spies  were  occasionally  sent  out,  and  the 
heroism  of  one,  a  Pole  named  Kolszicki,  who  happened 
to  be  a  resident  of  the  city,  is  deserving  of  some 
notice.  He  had  previously  been  an  interpreter  in 
the  employ  of  the  Eastern  Merchants'  Company,  and 
had  served  since  the  siege  began  as  a  volunteer. 
Intimately  conversant  with  the  Turkish  language  and 
customs,  he  willingly  offered  himself  for  the  dangerous 
task  of  passing  through  the  camp  of  the  Turks  to 
convey  intelligence  to  the  Imperial  army  on  its 
march.  On  the  13th  of  August,  accompanied  by  a 
servant  of  similar  qualifications,  he  was  let  out  through 
a  gate  in  the  Rothenthurm,  and  escorted  by  an 
aide-de-camp    of    the    commandant    as    far    as    the 


PLAN  OF  THE  SIEGE  OF  VIENNA  IN    I683. 


l60  THE  REIGN  OF  JOHN    SOBIESKI. 

palisades.  He  had  scarcely  advanced  a  hundred 
yards  when  he  noticed  a  large  body  of  horse  mo\  ing 
rapidly  towards  his  place  of  exit.  Being  as  yet  too 
near  the  city  to  escape  suspicion,  he  hastily  turned  to 
the  left  and  concealed  himself  in  the  cellar  of  a  ruined 
house  of  the  suburb  near  Altlerchenfeld,  where  he 
kept  close  till  he  heard  that  the  cavalry  had  passed. 
He  then  pursued  his  course,  and  singing  a  Turkish 
song,  traversed  at  an  idle  pace  and  with  an  un- 
embarrassed air  the  streets  of  Turkish  tents.  His 
cheerful  mien  and  familiar  strains  took  the  fancy  of 
an  Aga,  who  invited  him  into  his  tent,  treated  him 
with  coffee,  listened  to  more  songs,  and  to  his  tale  of 
having  followed  the  army  as  a  volunteer,  and  cautioned 
him  against  wandering  too  far  and  falling  into 
Christian  hands.  Kolszicki  thanked  him  for  his 
advice,  passed  on  safely  through  the  camp,  and  then 
as  unconcernedly  made  for  the  Kahlenberg  and  the 
Danube.  Upon  one  of  its  islands  he  saw  a  body  of 
men,  who,  misled  by  his  Turkish  attire,  fired  upon 
him  and  his  companion.  These  were  some  inhabi- 
tants of  Nussdorf,  headed  by  the  bailiff  of  that  place, 
who  had  made  this  island  their  temporary  refuge. 
Kolszicki  explained  to  them  in  German  the  object 
of  his  mission,  and  entreated  them  to  allow  him  to 
pass  the  river.  This  request  being  granted,  he 
reached  without  further  difficulty  the  bivouac  of  the 
Imperial  army,  then  on  its  march  between  Angern 
and  Stillfried.  After  delivering  and  receiving  des- 
patches, the  adventurous  pair  set  out  on  their  return. 
They  had  some  narrow  escapes  from  the  Turkish 
sentries,  passed  the  palisades,  and  re-entered  the  city 


KOLSZICKI,  i6t 

by  the  Scottish  gate,  bringing  a  letter  in  which  relief 
was  promised  at  the  end  of  August  at  the  latest. 
He  also  told  them  that  Pressburg  had  surrendered  to 
the  Imperialists.  The  safe  return  of  the  bearer  of 
the  despatch  was  announced  as  usual,  by  rockets  as 
night  signals,  and  in  the  day  by  a  column  of  smoke 
from  the  lofty  spire  of  St.  Stephen's  Cathedral,  which 
throughout  served  the  Commandant  as  a  watch-tower. 
On  the  2 1st  of  August  Kolszicki,  who  reminds  us 
very  much  of  Kavanagh  at  the  siege  of  Lucknow, 
was  on  the  point  of  repeating  his  dangerous  errand, 
when  a  deserter  who  had  been  recaptured,  and  was 
standing  under  the  gallows  with  the  halter  adjusted, 
confessed  that  he  had  furnished  to  the  Turks  an 
accurate  description  of  the  Pole.  He  was  himself 
deterred  by  this  warning,  but  his  gallant  companion, 
George  Michailovich,  found  means  twice  to  repeat 
the  exploit  with  the  same  success  as  in  the  first 
instance.  On  his  second  return  he  displayed  a 
remarkable  presence  of  mind  and  vigour  of  arm. 
Having  nearly  reached  the  palisades,  he  was  joined 
by  a  Turkish  horseman,  who  entered  into  conversa- 
tion with  him.  As  it  was,  however,  impossible  for 
him  to  follow  his  route  to  the  city  any  further  in  such 
company,  by  a  sudden  blow  he  struck  the  Turk's 
head  from  his  shoulders,  and  springing  on  the  rider's 
horse,  made  his  way  to  the  gate.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, tempt  his  fortune  again.  He  brought  on  this 
occasion  an  autograph  letter  from  the  Emperor  full 
of  compliments  and  promises,  which  was  publicly 
read  in  the  Rathhaus.  Kolszicki  was  rewarded  by 
permission  to  set  up  the  first  coffee-house  in  Vienna. 

12 


l62  THE   REIGN   OF   JOHN   SOBTESKI.' 

The  head  of  the  guild  of  traders  is  bound  to  this  day 
to  have  in  his  house  a  portrait  of  the  brave  messenger 
(see  "  Sieges  of  Vienna  by  the  Turks,"  translated  from 
the  German  of  Karl  Schimmer). 

But  relief  was  at  last  approaching.  The  Elector  of 
Saxony  reached  Krems,  near  Vienna,  on  the  28th  of 
August.  Sobieski,  whom  the  Emperor  himself  had 
solicited,  and  who  was  looked  upon  as  the  saviour  of 
Europe,  set  out  from  Cracow  on  the  15th  of  August  ; 
he  was  accompanied  by  his  son  James.  The  queen, 
Marie  Casimire,  went  with  her  husband  to  the  Polish 
frontier.  They  separated  at  Tarnowitz,  the  first  town 
in  Silesia.  Sobieski  crossed  the  Danube  by  a  bridge 
at  the  town  of  Tulln.  This  bridge  the  carelessness 
of  the  Vizier  had  allowed  to  be  constructed.  Here 
Sobieski  joined  the  army  of  Charles  of  Lorraine,  who 
had  been  one  of  his  rivals  for  the  crown  of  Poland  ; 
but  no  jealousies  appear  to  have  marred  the  inter- 
course of  these  brave  men.  The  bridge  was  passed 
on  Monday,  the  6th  of  September.  The  beautiful 
condition  of  the  Polish  cavalry  struck  all  beholders. 
The  united  army  amounted  to  70,000  men.  On  the 
1 2th  of  September,  after  mass,  Sobieski  began  the 
battle :  he  appeared  with  his  head  shaven  in  the 
Polish  fashion  ;  on  his  left  was  his  son  James,  on  his 
right  Charles  of  Lorraine.  The  assault  was  made 
simultaneously  on  the  wings  and  centre  of  the  enemy. 
The  king  bore  down  all  before  him,  saying,  '^  Non 
nobis,  non  nobis,  Domine  exeirittmrn,  sed  nomini  tuo 
da  gloriamr  In  spite  of  their  desperate  fighting  the 
Turks  were  overpowered  by  the  fiery  onslaught  of 
the  Poles.     Six  pashas  were  slain,  and  the  Vizier  fled 


RETREAT   OF   THE    TURKS.  1 63 

with  the  remnant  of  his  army.  The  booty  gained 
was  immense.  In  the  course  of  his  retreat  from  the 
field  of  battle,  the  Vizier,  Kara  Mustapha,  reached 
Belgrad.  He  was  destined  to  atone  for  his  failures 
by  the  usual  fate  of  disgraced  ministers  and  generals 
in  Turkey.  On  the  25th  of  December  of  the  same 
year,  the  messengers  charged  with  the  Sultan's  orders 
made  their  appearance  in  the  city.  From  one  of  the 
windows  of  his  palace  Mustapha  beheld  the  emissaries 
approach,  and  with  the  conventional  stoicism  of  the 
Turks  submitted  to  the  bow-string.  His  head  was 
sent  to  the  Sultan,  who  afterwards  caused  it  to  be 
given  back  to  the  city  of  Belgrad,  and  it  was  there 
deposited  in  a  mosque.  When  that  city  was  sur- 
rendered subsequently  to  the  Christians,  the  head  of 
the  Vizier  was  discovered  and  sent  by  Bishop  Kol- 
lonitsch  to  Vienna,  where  it  now  adorns  the  arsenal. 
It  looks  like  the  skull  of  a  low-organized,  almost 
brutal  man. 

We  are  enabled  to  follow  the  battle  in  its  minutest 
details  by  means  of  the  letters  which  Sobieski  wrote 
to  his  wife,  which  have  luckily  been  preserved. 
She  was  a  Frenchwoman,  named  Marie  Casimire 
d'Arquiens,  daughter  of  Henri  de  la  Grange,  cap- 
tain of  the  guard  to  Philip,  Duke  of  Orleans,  and 
had  been  originally  maid  of  honour  to  Marie  Louise, 
wife  successively  of  Ladislaus  and  Casimir.  She 
was  then  married  to  Count  Zamojski,  and  after  his 
death  became  the  wife  of  Sobieski.  Louis  XIV.,  in 
his  jealousy  towards  the  house  of  Austria,  would  have 
been  quite  willing  that  she  should  be  sacrificed,  and 
accordingly  did  what  he  could  to  deter  Sobieski  from 


164  THE   REIGN   OF  JOHN    SOBIESKI. 

rendering  assistance.  He  had,  however,  insulted  the 
hero's  French  wife  by  refusing  the  title  of  duke  to  her 
father,  and  she  used  all  her  influence  with  her  husband 
to  induce  him  to  assist  Austria,  a  country  for  which 
otherwise  he  had  very  little  predilection.  Moreover, 
in  her  sympathies  she  had  become  a  complete  Pole, 
and  in  the  Polish  language  her  husband's  letters  to 
her  were  written. 

It  is  from  these  letters  that  we  are  able  to  form  an 
excellent  idea  of  the  progress  and  successes  of 
Sobieski.  This  great  man  was  completely  under 
the  dominion  of  his  wife,  and  during  all  the  harassing 
events  of  the  campaign  we  find  him  continually 
writing  to  soothe  her  jealousy.  He  thus  expresses 
himself  in  one  of  these  epistles  : — 

"  I  must  complain  of  you  to  yourself,  my  charming 
and  incomparable  Mariette.  How  is  it  possible  that 
you  have  not  a  better  opinion  of  me  after  all  the 
proofs  of  tenderness  which  I  have  given  you  ?  Can 
you  seriously  affirm  that  I  do  not  read  your  letters  ? 
Can  you  believe  it,  while  it  is  a  fact  that  in  the 
midst  of  all  my  occupations  and  cares  I  read  each 
of  them  at  least  three  times?  the  first  time  when 
they  come  ;  the  second  when  I  go  to  bed — in  fact, 
when  I  am  free  ;  and  the  third  when  I  set  about 
answering  them.  I  intreat  you,  my  love,  for  my 
sake,  not  to  rise  so  early.  What  constitution  could 
endure  it,  especially  when  a  person  goes  to  rest  so 
late  as  you  do.  You  will  pain  me  greatly  if  you 
pay  no  attention  to  my  request ;  you  will  deprive  me 
of  rest  and  health,  and,  what  is  much  worse,  you 
will  injure  your  own,  which  is  my  only  consolation  in 


THE   king's   letter.  1 65 

this  world.  ...  So  do  not  throw  the  blame  of  your 
own  fault  upon  another  ;  but  show  me,  on  the  con- 
trary, by  words,  and  especially  by  action,  that  you 
will  preserve  a  constant  attachment  for  your  faithful 
and  devoted  Celadon." 

How  strange  it  is  to  find  the  corpulent  soldier 
adopting,  according  to  the  fashion  of  his  time,  the 
picturesque  name  of  a  shepherd  !  Such  was  the 
thraldom  in  which  this  tyrannical  lady  held  the  hero. 
But  history  has  reason  to  be  deeply  grateful  to  her, 
for  she  is  the  means  of  our  getting  very  valuable 
information. 

The  most  interesting  of  all  the  letters  is  that  in 
which  the  conqueror  gives  an  account  of  his  victory, 
and  we  here  add  it  in  full : — 

"  In  the  Tent  of  the  Vizier. 

"  The  i^th  of  September,  at  night, 
"Only  joy  of  my  soul,  charming  and  much  loved 
Mariette  !  God  be  praised  for  ever  !  He  has  given 
the  victory  to  our  nation !  He  has  given  such  a 
triumph  as  past  ages  have  never  seen.  All  the  artil- 
lery, all  the  camp  of  the  Musulmans,  infinite  riches 
have  fallen  into  our  hands.  The  approaches  to  the 
city,  the  fields  round,  are  covered  with  the  dead  of 
the  infidel  army,  and  the  remains  of  it  are  flying  in 
consternation.  Our  people  are  bringing  us  every 
minute  camels,  mules,  oxen,  and  sheep,  which  the 
enemy  had  with  him,  and  besides  an  innumerable 
quantity  of  prisoners.  The  victory  has  been  so 
sudden  and  so  extraordinary  that,  in  the  city  as  in 
the  camp,  there  was  always  a  state  of  alarm.     People 


l66  THE   REIGN   OF   JOHN   SOBIESKL 

fancied  every  moment  that  they  saw  the  enemy 
return.  He  has  left  in  powder  and  ammunition  to 
the  value  of  a  million  florins.  I  was  witness  this 
night  to  a  spectacle  which  I  had  long  desired  to  see. 
Our  baggage-companies  have  in  several  places  set 
fire  to  gunpowder  ;  the  explosion  was  like  that  of  the 
Last  Judgment,  without,  however,  doing  injury  to  any 
one.  I  could  see  on  the  occasion  in  what  way  clouds 
are  formed  in  the  atmosphere,  but  it  is  a  misfortune  ; 
it  is  really  a  loss  of  half  a  million.  The  Vizier,  Kara 
Mustapha,  abandoned  everything  in  his  flight,  he  has 
only  kept  his  clothing  and  horse.  It  is  I  who  am  his 
heir,  for  the  greater  part  of  his  wealth  has  fallen  into 
my  hands. 

"Advancing  with  the  first  line,  and  driving  the 
Vizier  before  me,  I  met  with  one  of  his  servants,  who 
conducted  me  into  the  tents  of  his  private  court ; 
these  tents  alone  occupy  a  space  as  great  as  the  city 
of  Warsaw  or  Lemberg.  I  seized  all  the  decorations 
and  flags  which  were  ordinarily  carried  before  the 
Vizier.  As  to  the  grand  standard  of  Mahomet, 
which  his  sovereign  entrusted  to  him  for  this  war,  I 
sent  it  to  the  Holy  Father  by  Talenti.  Moreover, 
we  have  rich  tents,  superb  equipages,  and  a  thousand 
other  very  rich  and  very  beautiful  toys.  I  have  not 
seen  all  yet  ;  but  there  is  no  comparison  with  what 
we  saw  at  Chocim  (where,  it  will  be  remembered, 
Sobieski  won  a  victory  over  the  Turks  about  the 
time  of  the  death  of  King  Michael  Korybut) ;  four  or 
five  quivers  mounted  with  rubies  and  sapphires  are 
worth  alone  some  thousands  of  ducats.  You  will  not, 
then,  say  to  me,  my  love,  like  the  Tatar  women  to 


THE   king's   letter.  167 

their  husbands,  when  they  return  without  booty, 
*  You  are  no  warrior,  since  you  have  not  brought  me 
anything ;  for  only  the  man  who  goes  in  front  can 
get  anything.'  I  have  also  a  horse  once  belonging  to 
the  Vizier,  with  all  his  harness.  He  himself  was 
pursued  very  closely,  but  he  escaped.  His  kiyaia,  or 
first  lieutenant,  was  killed,  as  well  as  a  number  of  the 
other  principal  officers.  Our  soldiers  have  got  hold 
of  many  sabres  mounted  with  gold.  Niglit  put  an 
end  to  the  pursuit ;  but  even  during  the  night  the 
Turks  can  make  an  obstinate  defence.  In  this 
respect  i/s  ont  fait  la  plus  belle  retirade  du  monde. 
Nevertheless,  the  Janissaries  in  the  trenches  were 
forgotten,  and  during  the  night  they  were  all  cut  to 
pieces.  Such  was  the  pride  and  the  presumption  of 
the  Turks,  that  while  one  part  of  the  army  offered  us 
battle  another  part  assaulted  the  city.  So  they  had 
enough  men  for  both.  I  estimate  them  at  300,000 
combatants.  I  counted  about  100,000  tents.  For 
two  nights  and  a  day  any  one  who  likes  may  take 
them,  even  the  people  of  the  city  have  come  for  their 
share  of  the  booty.  I  am  sure  they  will  have  enough 
to  occupy  them  for  eight  days.  The  Turks  left  in 
their  flight  many  prisoners,  natives  of  the  country, 
especially  women,  but  they  massacred  all  they  could. 
Many  of  the  women  are  only  wounded,  and  may  be 
set  right  again.  I  saw  yesterday  a  child  of  four  years 
of  age  whose  head  one  of  these  cowards  had  cloven 
down  to  the  mouth.  A  fine  ostrich  was  found  ;  but 
the  Vizier  had  had  its  head  cut  off,  so  that  it  should 
not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  describe  all  the  refinement  of 


l68  THE   REIGN   OF  yOHN   SOBIESKL 

luxury  which  the  Vizier  had  collected  in  his  tents. 
There  were  baths,  little  gardens  with  fountains,  even 
a  parrot,  which  our  soldiers  pursued  but  could  not 
capture.  To-day  I  went  to  see  the  city  ;  it  could  not 
have  held  out  longer  than  five  days.  It  is  all  riddled 
with  bullets  ;  those  immense  bastions  perforated  and 
half  tumbling  to  pieces  have  a  terrible  aspect  ;  on  i 
would  think  they  were  great  masses  of  rocks.  All 
the  soldiers  did  their  duty  ;  they  attribute  the  victory 
to  God  and  ourselves.  At  the  moment  when  the 
enemy  began  to  give  way  the  greatest  danger  was  at 
the  spot  where  I  found  myself  opposite  to  the  Vizier. 
All  the  remaining  cavalry  of  the  army  turned  towards 
me  on  the  right  wing  ;  the  centre  and  the  left  wing 
having  already  very  little  to  do.  I  then  saw  the 
Elector  of  Bavaria,  the  Prince  of  Waldeck,  and  many 
other  German  princes  ;  they  embraced  me  and  kissed 
me.  The  soldiers,  the  foot  and  cavalry  officers  cried 
out  :  '  Ah  !  unser  braver  Konig !  ' 

"  It  is  only  this  morning  that  I  have  seen  the  Prince 
of  Lorraine  and  the  Elector  of  Saxony  ;  we  could 
not  meet  yesterday  because  they  were  at  the  extreme 
left.  I  had  given  them  some  squadrons  of  our 
hussars,  commanded  by  the  Marshal  of  the  Court, 
Jerome  Lubomirski.  The  commandant  of  the  town, 
Stahremberg,  also  came  to  see  me  yesterday.  All 
have  embraced  me,  and  called  me  their  saviour.  I 
have  been  in  two  churches,  where  the  people  kissed 
my  hands,  feet,  and  clothes  ;  others,  who  could  only 
touch  me  at  a  distance,  cried  out,  '  Ah !  let  me  kiss 
your  victorious  hands.'  They  seemed  to  wish  to  cry 
out   vivat^  but    were   prevented    from    fear   of  their 


THE  king's  letter.  i6g 

officers  and  other  superiors.  Nevertheless  a  crowd 
of  people  shouted  out  a  kind  of  vivat  I  remarked 
that  their  superiors  regarded  this  conduct  with  dis- 
favour, and  so,  after  having  dined  with  the  com- 
mandant, I  hastened  to  quit  the  town  and  to  return 
to  the  camp.  The  crowd  accompanied  me  almost  to 
the  gates.  The  Emperor  has  sent  to  let  me  know 
that  he  is  a  few  miles  off;  but  I  have  not  much  hope 
of  meeting  him.  We  have  not  lost  many  of  our  men 
in  battles  ;  but  we  must  regret  especially  two  persons, 
Modrzewski  and  young  Potocki,  whom  I  cannot  men- 
tion without  shedding  tears.  Among  the  strangers 
the  Prince  of  Croz  has  been  wounded,  and  a  good 
many  others  have  perished.  The  well-known  Capu- 
chin, Marco  Aviano,  has  never  ceased  kissing  me  and 
pressing  me  to  his  heart.  He  declares  that  he  saw 
during  the  battle  a  white  dove  flying  over  the  Chris- 
tian soldiery.  This  priest  has  now  gone  to  Hungar}' 
to  pursue  the  infidels.  As  soon  as  the  Vizier  saw 
that  he  could  hold  out  no  longer,  he  called  his  two 
sons  to  him,  and  having  embraced  them,  said  with 
tears  to  the  Tatnr  Khan  :  '  Save  me,  if  you  are  able 
to  do  so.'  The  Khan  answered  :  'We  know  well  the 
King  of  Poland  ;  it  is  impossible  to  resist  him  ;  let  us 
rather  think  how  we  can  escape  from  this  place.' 

"  They  have  just  discovered  a  great  quantity  of 
ammunition.  I  do  not  know  what  they  have  left, 
with  which  they  will  be  able  to  fire  upon  us.  I  have 
just  received  information  that  the  enemy  has  aban- 
doned twenty  cannons  in  his  flight.  I  am  about  to 
get  on  horseback  to  go  into  Hungary,  and  I  hope,  as 
I  said  when    I  left  you,  to  see  you   again  at  Stryc, 


170  THE   REIGN  OF   JOHN   SOBIESKI. 

The  princes  of  Bavaria  and  Saxony  are  ready  to  go 
with  me  to  the  end  of  the  world.  We  shall  have  to 
double  our  pace  throughout  the  first  two  miles  on 
account  of  the  insupportable  odours  of  the  bodies  of 
men,  horses,  and  camels.  I  have  written  to  the  King 
of  France  ;  I  told  him  that  it  was  to  him  especially, 
as  to  the  most  Christian  king,  that  I  ought  to  make 
my  report  about  the  battle  gained  and  the  safety  of 
Christendom.  Notre  Fanfan  (the  young  Prince 
James)  is  brave  in  the  highest  degree." 

Such  is  the  account  given  in  one  of  the  king's 
letters  ;  we  have  thought  our  readers  would  pardon 
its  discursiveness  and  repetitions,  on  account  of  this 
interesting  personal  glimpse  of  a  very  remarkabli^ 
man.  These  letters  were  accidentally  discovered  in 
1823  among  the  papers  of  one  of  the  ancestors  of 
Count  Raczinski,  who  had  held  an  important  diplo- 
matic post.  That  solemn  farceur^  however,  ani 
highly  important  plerson,  the  most  Christian  king, 
was  not  at  all  pleased  at  the  result  of  Sobieski's 
campaign.  To  weaken  Austria  he  would  have  cheer- 
fully made  an  alliance  with  the  Turk  or  any  other 
barbarian.  The  extracts  from  the  French  State 
Papers,  which  have  been  recently  published  by  the 
Academy  of  Cracow,  show  the  constant  efforts  of 
Louis  XIV.  to  attach  Sobieski  and  his  wife,  for  she 
had  always  to  be  taken  into  account,  to  a  French 
alliance.  The  same  year  in  which  the  great  siege  of 
Vienna  took  place  there  was  an  actual  rupture 
between  the  French  and  Polish  Governments.  The 
French  ambassador  asked  for  an   audience  to  take 


SOBIE ski's    triumph.  171 

leave,  which  was  granted  on  the  28th  of  May.  But 
before  he  could  get  away  his  house  at  Warsaw  was 
assailed  by  a  party  of  cavaliers,  who  fired  at  the 
windows,  without,  however,  injuring  any  one.  We 
shall  find  Louis  after  the  great  victory  doing  all  he 
could  to  minimise  its  importance,  but  he  was  unable 
to  silence  the  voice  of  Europe.  The  fine  ode  of  Fili- 
caja,  the  Italian  poet,  to  Sobieski  is  but  the  echo  of 
the  universal  voice  of  gratitude  and  praise.  The 
petty  struggles  of  the  Grand  Monarque  in  matters  of 
etiquette,  because  Sobieski  was  only  an  elected  king, 
we  shall  find  repeated  by  the  miserable  Leopold. 

Meanwhile  the  morning  after  the  complete  rout  of 
the  Turks,  Sobieski  and  his  troops  entered  the  city, 
and  divine  service  was  performed  in  the  cathedral. 
A  sermon  was  preached  upon  the  text :  "  There  was 
a  man  sent  from  God  w^hose  name  was  John."  In 
spite  of  his  success  the  brave  Pole  was  doomed  to 
meet  with  neglect  at  the  hands  of  the  imbecile 
Austrian.  The  absurd  stickling  about  etiquette  of 
the  Emperor  is  fully  described  in  another  of  the 
letters,  which  the  king  addressed  to  his  wife.  He 
returned  to  Cracow  on  the  23rd  of  December. 

In  the  following  year  Sobieski  entered  into  a  league 
offensive  and  defensive  with  the  Emperor  and  the 
Republic  of  Venice  against  the  Turks.  While  the 
Imperial  troops  were  engaged  upon  the  Danube  and 
the  Venetians  in  the  Morea,  the  Poles  were  to  attack 
the  Osmanlis  on  the  side  of  Wallachia.  By  a  secret 
article  of  this  treaty  it  was  stipulated  that  the  latter 
province  and  Moldavia  should  be  absolutely  subject 
to  Sobieski,  and  that  he  might  dispose  of  them  to 


172  THE   REIGN   OF  JOHN   SOBIESKL 

his  eldest  son.  The  king  entered  Moldavia,  and 
made  himself  master  of  it,  but  the  difficulty  was  how 
to  hold  a  country  that  had  no  fortified  places.  More- 
over, Sobieski  was  ill  supported  by  the  turbulent 
Polish  nobility,  who  gave  another  proof  of  their  utter 
want  of  patriotic  feeling.  They  seemed  to  have  no 
sense  of  union  ;  no  realisation  of  anything  beyond 
family  interests.  In  the  same  year  (1686)  Wilanow, 
a  pleasure-retreat  of  the  king's,  near  Warsaw,  was 
built,  chiefly  by  the  labours  of  the  Turkish  captives. 
It  still  remains  an  interesting  monument  of  the 
former  grandeur  of  the  country. 


COIN    OF  JOHN    SOBIESKT. 

The  remaining  years  of  the  reign  of  Sobieski 
were  embittered  by  constant  disputes  in  the  diets, 
several  of  which  were  broken  off  by  the  exercise  of 
the  liberum  veto.  He  twice  meditated  abdicating, 
and  he  had  no  peace  at  home  owing  to  family  dis- 
sensions. His  wife,  of  whom  he  was  so  passionately 
fond,  was  a  beautiful  woman,  but  avaricious,  despotic, 
and  revengeful.  Broken  by  disease,  and  harassed 
by  the  continued  tumults  round  him,  the  great  soldier 
expired  on  the  17th  of  June,  1696,  at  his  favourite 
residence,  Wilanow.  Some  account  of  his  last 
moments  has  been  given  us  bv  the  Chancellor  Zaluski, 


DEATH-BED   OF   SOBIESKI.  1 73 

Bishop  of  Plock.  The  queen  had  been  alarmed  by 
some  symptoms  in  her  husband's  ilhiess,  and  urged 
the  bishop  to  go  to  the  king,  and,  in  an  indirect  way, 
to  suggest  that  he  should  make  some  arrangement  of 
his  affairs.  Zaluski,  on  entering  the  chamber  of  the 
sick  man,  found  him  in  great  pain,  but  endeavoured 
to  give  him  comfort  and  some  hopes  of  recovery. 
But  Sobieski  replied  :  "  I  see  my  approaching  end  ; 
my  situation  will  be  the  same  to-morrow  as  it  is 
to-day ;  all  consolation  is  now  too  late."  Then, 
sighing  deeply,  his  Majesty  asked  him  why  he  came 
so  seldom  to  Court,  and  with  what  he  had  been  so 
busy  in  his  diocese.  Zaluski,  after  expatiating  upon 
the  duties  of  his  episcopal  office,  and  the  resources 
of  literature,  for  our  bishop  was  an  author,  artfully 
turned  the  discourse  to  what  was  the  real  object  of 
his  visit.  "  Lately,"  said  he,  "  I  have  been  employed 
in  no  very  agreeable,  yet  a  necessary,  duty  ;  weighing 
the  frail  condition  of  human  nature,  remembering 
that,  as  Socrates  and  Plato,  so  all  men  must  die  ;  and 
considering  the  dissensions  which  may  arise  among 
my  relations  after  my  decease,  I  have  taken  an 
inventory  of  my  effects,  and  have  disposed  of  them 
by  will."  The  king,  who  saw  the  purport  of  his  dis- 
course, interrupted  him  with  a  loud  laugh,  and 
exclaimed,  in  a  quotation  from  Juvenal,  O  inedici 
mediain  contundite  venam  (meaning  to  insinuate  that 
the  bishop  was  mad).  "  What,  my  lord  bishop  ! 
you,  whose  judgment  and  good  sense  I  have  so  long 
esteemed,  do  you  make  your  will  ?  What  a  useless 
loss  of  time  !  "  Not  discouraged  by  his  remarks,  the 
bishop  persevered  in  suggesting,  "  that  in  justice  to 


174  ^^^   REIGN   OF  yOHN   SOBIESKL 

his  family  and  country  he  ought  without  delay  to 
regulate  the  disposal  of  his  effects,  and  to  declare 
his  final  wishes."  "  For  God's  sake,"  replied  Sobieski, 
"  do  not  suppose  that  any  good  thing  can  come  out 
of  this  age !  when  vice  has  increased  to  such  an 
enormous  degree  as  almost  to  exclude  all  hopes  of 
forgiveness  from  the  mercy  of  the  Deity.  Do  you 
not  see  how  great  is  the  public  iniquity,  tumult,  and 
violence  ?  All  strive  to  blend  good  and  evil  without 
distinction  :  the  morals  of  my  subjects  are  perverted  ; 
can  you  again  restore  them  ?  My  orders  are  not 
attended  to  while  I  am  alive  ;  can  I  expect  to  be 
obeyed  when  I  am  dead  ?  That  man  is  happy  who, 
with  his  own  hand,  disposes  of  his  effects,  which 
cannot  be  entrusted  with  security  to  his  executors  ; 
while  they  who  bequeath  them  by  will  act  absurdly 
by  consigning  to  the  care  of  others  what  is  more 
secure  in  the  hands  of  their  nearest  relations.  Have 
not  the  regulations  made  by  the  kings  my  prede- 
cessors been  despised  after  their  deaths  ?  Where 
corruption  universally  prevails,  judgment  is  obtained 
by  money  ;  the  voice  of  conscience  is  not  heard,  and 
reason  and  equity  are  no  more ! "  Then  suddenly 
giving  a  ludicrous  turn  to  the  conversation,  he  ex- 
claimed, "What  can  you  say  to  this,  Mr.  Will-maker? 
('  Quid  ad  hcBc,  Domine  testamentarie ')." 

Such  were  the  last  words  of  the  great  soldier,  who 
saw  from  what  his  country  was  suffering.  We  may 
say,  in  the  lines  of  the  American  poet — 

**  None  beheld  with  clearer  eye 
The  plague-spot  o'er  her  spreading." 


SOUTH'S    DESCRFPTrON.  175 

The  family  of  the  Sobieskis  is  now  extinct,  and 
with  him  may  be  said  to  have  sunk  the  glory  of 
Poland.  Dr.  Robert  South,  the  eminent  divine  who 
visited  Poland  as  chaplain  to  an  embassy,  has  left 
us  an  interesting  account  of  the  country.  He  thus 
describes  Sobieski — 

"  The  king  is  a  very  well  spoken  prince,  very  easy 
of  access,  and  extreme  civil,  having  most  of  the 
qualities  requisite  to  form  a  complete  gentleman. 
He  is  not  only  well  versed  in  all  military  affairs,  but 
likewise,  through  the  means  of  a  French  education, 
very  opulently  stored  with  all  polite  and  scholastic 
learning.  Besides  his  own  tongue,  the  Sclavonian, 
he  understands  the  Latin,  French,  Italian,  German, 
and  Turkish  languages  ;  he  delights  much  in  natural 
history,  and  in  all  the  parts  of  physic.  He  is  wont 
to  reprimand  the  clergy  for  not  admitting  the  modern 
philosophy,  such  as  Le  Grand's  and  Cartesius',  into 
the  universities  and  schools. 

"  As  to  what  relates  to  his  Majesty's  person,  he  is 
a  tall  and  corpulent  prince,  large-faced,  and  full  eyes, 
and  goes  always  in  the  same  dress  with  his  subjects, 
with  his  hair  cut  round  about  his  ears  like  a  monk, 
and  wears  a  fur  cap,  but  extraordinary  rich  with 
diamonds  and  jewels,  large  whiskers  (/>.,  moustaches), 
and  no  neck-cloth.  A  long  robe  hangs  down  to  his 
heels  in  the  fashion  of  a  coat,  and  a  waistcoat  under 
that,  of  the  same  length,  tied  close  about  the  waist 
with  a  girdle.  He  never  wears  any  gloves,  and  this 
long  coat  is  of  strong  scarlet  cloth,  lined  in  the 
winter  with  rich  fur,  but  in  summer  only  with  silk. 
Instead  of  shoes  he  always  ^ears  both  abroad  and 


lyt)  THE   REIGN   OF   JOHN   SOBIESKL 

at  home  Turkey  leather  boots,  with  very  thin  soles, 
and  hollow,  deep  heels  made  of  a  blade  of  silver, 
bent  hoop-wise  into  the  form  of  a  half-moon.  He 
carries  always  a  large  scimitar  by  his  side,  the  sheath 
equally  flat  and  broad  from  the  handle  to  the  bottom, 
and  curiously  set  with  diamonds." 

Owing  to  the  continual  wars  in  Sobieski's  reign, 
the  common  people  suffered  much,  and  the  recollec- 
tion of  what  they  endured  is  embodied  in  the  saying 
which  was  often  heard  in  Poland  during  the  last 
century  of  its  independence — 

*'  Za  krola  Sasa, 
Jedz,  pij,  popuszczaj  pasa; 
A  za  krola  Sol)ka, 
Nie  bylo  w  polu  snopka." 

"  In  the  time  of  the  Saxon  king, 
Eat,  drink,  and  loosen  your  girdle ; 
But  in  the  time  of  king  Sobko 
1  here  was  not  a  sheaf  in  the  fields." 

The  reader  may  be  curious  to  know  what  was  the 
ultimate  fate  of  the  beautiful  and  capricious  Marie, 
to  whom  Sobieski  addressed  such  uxurious  epistles 
during  the  great  siege,  in  each  of  which  she  was 
styled  the  only  joy  of  his  soul.  She  passed  the  first 
part  of  her  widowhood  at  Rome  with  her  father,  the 
Marquis  d'Arquiens.  In  that  country  she  continued 
to  reside  till  the  year  17 14,  when  she  retired  to 
France.  Louis  XIV.  gave  her  the  castle  of  Blois 
as  a  residence,  and  she  died  there  in  17 16.  Her 
remains  were  taken  to  Warsaw,  and  from  thence 
conveyed,  together  with  those  of  her  husband,  in  1734 
to  Cracow,  and  interred  in  the  cathedral. 


CLEMENTINA    SOBIBSKA.  1 77 

After  the  death  of  Sobieski,  his  youngest  son, 
Constantine,  lived  on  his  father's  estate  at  Zolkiew. 
Alexander,  who  greatly  resembled  the  king,  died  at 
Rome  in  the  Convent  of  the  Capuchins  ;  the  eldest, 
James,  who  had  married  Jadwiga,  the  Princess  of 
Neuburg,  lived  in  Silesia,  in  the  city  of  Olawa,  given 
to  him,  according  to  a  family  compact,  by  his  brother- 
in-law,  the  Emperor  Leopold.  The  only  daughter  of 
the  king,  the  Princess  Teresa  Cunigunda,  was  married 
to  the  Elector  of  Bavaria.  James  had  a  son  who 
died,  and  three  daughters  of  great  personal  beauty, 
Cazimiera,  Carolina,  and  Clementina.  By  their  mother, 
Jadwiga,  or  Hedwig,  one  of  whose  sisters  was  married 
to  the  Emperor  Leopold,  another  to  the  Spanish  king, 
Charles,  a  third  to  Pedro,  of  Portugal,  the  three 
grand-daughters  of  John  III.  of  Poland  were  related 
to  the  principal  royal  families  of  Europe.  To  the  little 
Court  at  Olawa  there  came  in  the  year  17 18  an  Irish 
gentleman  named  Murray  with  an  important  com- 
munication. This  was  none  other  than  to  demand  the 
hand  of  the  princess  Clementina  for  James  Stuart,  the 
son  of  James  II.,  of  England,  commonly  called  the 
Old  Pretender.  Although  the  Stuarts  were  in  exile, 
they  were  regarded  by  a  large  part  of  Europe  as  the 
rightful  heirs  to  the  English  throne,  and  their  restora- 
tion was  by  no  means  despaired  of  by  their  adhe- 
rents. Still,  circumstances  had  latterly  little  favoured 
the  claims  of  the  Pretender.  George  I.  had  succeeded 
James  Stuart's  half-sister  Anne,  and  he  himself  had 
been  banished  from  France.  He  then  put  himself 
under  the  protection  of  the  Papal  Court.  Clement 
XI.,  the    Pontiff,  was   the   godfather   of  the   young 

13 


T78  THE   REIGN   OF  JOHN   SOBIESKI. 

princess,  and  it  was  probably  by  his  suggestion  that 
the  marriage  was  arranged.  On  the  24th  of  June, 
17 18,  the  young  prince  wrote  a  letter  to  the  parents 
of  Clementina,  demanding  her  hand,  and  also  to  the 
young  lady  herself.  His  offer  was  accepted.  But 
opposition  was  to  be  feared  from  the  European 
powers,  especially  since  the  Austrian  Court  was  on 
friendly  terms  with  the  Hanoverian  dynasty  in 
England,  and  James  Sobieski  was  a  kind  of  dependent 
of  Austria,  and  could  do  nothing  without  permission 
from  Vienna.  It  was  only  by  a  carefully  arranged 
disguise  that  the  princess  was  able  to  reach  Italy  so 
that  a  marriage  could  take  place  at  Montefiascone. 
A  medal  was  struck  to  commemorate  this  event,  one 
of  the  inscriptions  upon  which  was  :  "  Deceptis  cus- 
todibus,  A.  17 19."  Clementina  had  two  sons,  one 
of  whom  was  the  celebrated  Young  Pretender ;  an 
historian  of  that  memorable  insurrection  has  said 
with  truth  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  the  spirit  of 
Sobieski  in  the  gallant  and  chivalrous  young  prince. 
Clementina  died  on  the  i8th  of  January,  1735,  aged 
thirty-three.  Two  years  later  her  father  James,  once 
a  competitor  for  the  Polish  throne,  who  had  shared 
the  dangers  and  honours  of  the  great  siege  with  his 
father,  died  at  Zolkiew.  Three  years  afterwards,  in 
1740,  died  the  last  of  the  three  daughters. 

The  princess  Clementina,  who  had  enjoyed  the 
airy  honours  of  titular  queen  of  England,  does  not 
seem  to  have  lived  happily  with  her  husband.  She 
finally  separated  from  him  and  her  death  is  said 
to  have  been  partly  occasioned  by  her  religious 
abstinence     and     too     severe     mortifications.       Her 


THE   FRENCH   ABBE.  1 79 

remains  were  interred  with  great  pomp  in  St. 
Peter's,  where  there  is  a  monument  to  her  memory. 
We  have  already  spoken  of  the  eldest  son,  Charles 
Edward.  As  is  well  known,  he  died  without  heirs, 
and  his  brother  Henry  became  a  cardinal  and  sur- 
vived to  the  present  century. 

At  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Stephen  Batory,  we 
halted  for  a  time  and  surveyed  the  situation,  because 
it  was  a  turning-point  in  the  history  of  Poland  ; 
at  that  time  it  may  be  said  with  truth  that  its 
decadence  begins.  Its  decadence  it  certainly  is, 
but  for  one  short  period  the  gloom  of  the  history 
is  lit  up  by  glorious  achievements,  and  that  period 
is  the  reign  of  Sobieski.  Before  commencing  the 
dull  gloom  of  the  rule  of  the  Saxon  kings,  we 
will  take  a  final  survey  of  the  real  old  Poland, 
as  it  has  been  handed  down  to  us  in  the  curious 
narrative  of  a  certain  French  Abb^,  F.  D.  S.,  an 
unknown  person,  whose  manuscript  has  been  pre- 
served for  some  time  in  the  Bibliotheque  Mazarine, 
and  was  first  published  at  Paris  in  1858.  In  this 
curious  work  we  shall  be  able  to  get  glimpses  both  of 
the  king  and  queen  and  the  chief  Polish  customs  and 
institutions.  He  sets  out  for  Poland  on  the  30th  of 
July,  1688.  We  will  omit  the  preliminaries  of  his 
journey,  and  begin  with  his  arrival  in  Silesia  and  his 
crossing  the  Polish  frontier  at  Lublinist.  "  From 
this  town  to  Warsaw,"  says  our  traveller,  "  I  have  not 
found  a  single  town,  which  in  France  would  deserve 
the  name  of  a  village,  whether  on  account  of  its 
poverty,  dirt,  or  coarseness,  which  seem  essential 
ingredients    in    the   Polish   nation."     He  is  attacked 


l8o  THE   REIGN   OF  JOHN   SOBIESKI. 

by  a  terrific  storm  just  as  he  nears  the  capital, 
Warsaw,  at  which  he  arrived  at  eight  o'clock  at 
night.  The  queen  was  then  at  Willanow  [the 
Frenchman  writes  it  phonetically  Villanouf,  and 
indeed  most  of  the  places  in  the  same  way,  as 
the  French  are  in  the  habit  of  doing  with  foreign 
names].  He  was  told  that  she  rarely  came  to 
Warsaw  except  on  the  great  festivals  ;  but  he  was 
met  by  one  of  her  officers  who  had  been  told  to 
take  care  of  him,  and  is  conducted  to  Willanow  on 
the  following  day.  The  queen  was  going  to  mass, 
but  gave  him  a  hearty  welcome  ;  the  king  he  did  not 
see  till  the  evening,  as  he  had  gone  hunting.  On  his 
return  he  welcomed  M.  I'Abbe  and  asked  him  many 
questions  about  France  and  the  king  his  master. 
The  Frenchman  stayed  at  Willanow  a  month.  He 
gives  a  complete  description  of  Sobieski's  favourite 
palace  which  was  a  tolerably  handsome  building,  but 
only  one  story  high  ;  the  gardens  were  poor.  There 
were  some  good  orchards,  however,  a  thing  rare  in 
Poland,  he  remarks,  on  account  of  the  coldness  of  the 
climate.  There  were  some  tame  wolves  in  the  court 
of  the  castle,  who  were  kept  with  the  hunting  dogs 
and  went  to  the  chase  with  them  ;  they  agreed  very 
well  except  that  they  always  wished  to  have  the 
mastery  over  the  dogs  ;  there  were  also  tame  bears. 
The  Abb6  tells  us  that  the  country  was  full  of  these 
animals,  which  were  to  be  found  in  the  forest,  but 
fled  at  the  approach  of  a  human  being.  The  houses 
in  the  village  of  Willanow  were  poorly  built,  and 
there  was  only  a  mean  looking  church,  the  priest  of 
which  received  a  paltry  pittance. 


THE   FRENCH   ABBE.  l8l 

He  next  describes  Gora,  whither  he  went  with  the 
Court.  This  town,  he  tells  us,  was  built  by  a  bishop 
of  Kiew.  At  his  death  he  bequeathed  it  to  Prince 
James,  the  son  of  Sobieski.  The  castle  occupied  by 
the  prince  was  fine,  and  situated  near  the  Vistula. 
From  Gora  he  went  to  Zolkiew,  which  had  a  fine 
church  with  two  pictures  representing  the  victories  of 
Sobieski  over  the  infidels.  His  father  and  mother 
were  buried  in  the  church  in  tombs  of  black  and 
white  marble  with  ornaments  of  gilded  bronze.  The 
castle  belonging  to  the  king  was  very  fine,  of  semi- 
oriental  architecture.  There  was  a  pleasant  garden 
with  a  summer-house,  which  afforded  a  delightful 
view  over  the  surrounding  country.  Here  the  king 
was  in  the  habit  of  dining  with  his  most  familiar 
friends.  Besides  the  buildings  already  mentioned 
there  were  a  Dominican  convent,  a  church  of  the 
Uniates,  a  monastery,  and  a  handsome  synagogue. 

The  traveller  goes  on  to  describe  other  towns  ;  of 
Warsaw  he  speaks  very  depreciatingly.  He  calls  it  a 
little  city,  surrounded  with  stone  walls.  He  admires 
the  king's  castle,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Vistula. 
The  apartments  had  very  rich  tapestries,  which  were 
given  to  the  Poles  by  Cromwell,  according  to  our 
author's  testimony.  There  was  a  room  in  the  palace 
for  acting  comedies,  the  actors  being  Italians. 
Although  the  actual  city  of  Warsaw  was  small,  the 
suburbs  were  large. 

The  king  has  been  already  described  in  the  account 
which  we  have  borrowed  from  Dr.  South  ;  we  will 
therefore  omit  our  author's  description  and  take  that 
which  he  has  given  us  of  the  queen,  who  plays  so 


l82  THE   REIGN   OF  JOHN   SOBIESKI. 

large  a  part  in  Polish  history.  He  thus  writes  : "  This 
queen  at  present  is  about  fifty  years  of  age,  she  is  still 
a  very  handsome  woman,  of  moderate  stature,  neither 
fat  nor  thin,  very  fair  and  with  a  charming  colour. 
She  has  black  eyes,  an  aquiline  nose,  a  small  and  red 
mouth  with  plenty  of  wit,  she  is  very  virtuous,  good, 
liberal,  magnificent ;  excessively  charitable  to  the 
monasteries,  the  hospitals,  and  the  poor  ;  she  is  so 
captivating  that  when  she  looks  upon  any  one  with 
favour,  it  is  impossible  to  resist  her  gaze  ;  but  when 
she  stands  upon  her  dignity,  she  disconcerts  the  very 
haughtiest.  Her  greatest  devotions  are  to  the  Holy 
Sacrament,  the  Holy  Virgin,  and  St.  Anthony  of 
Padua.  Her  manner  of  passing  her  day  is  as 
follows  : — She  rises  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
her  book  of  hours  is  brought  to  her  when  in  bed, 
and  she  there  prays  for  a  short  time.  Afterwards 
she  receives  the  visits  of  her  servants  and  the  officers 
of  her  household,  who  converse  with  her  and  put  any 
questions  to  her.  At  eleven  o'clock  she  goes  to  mass 
in  the  chapel  of  the  palace,  after  having  partaken  of 
refreshment.  She  then  carefully  dresses  herself  and 
sits  down  to  dinner  about  two  o'clock.  When  dinner 
is  ended,  she  receives  visits  and  sometimes  plays  at 
ombre  [readers  of  Waller  and  Pope  will  remember 
how  much  this  game  used  to  be  played  in  England]  : 
in  summer  she  goes  for  a  walk  about  nine  o'clock  in 
the  evening  :  one  of  her  amusements  is  to  let  herself 
be  drenched  by  the  rain,  although  magnificently 
dressed.  I  remember,"  our  Abbe  continues,  "  that 
one  day  Monsieur  le  Comte  de  Teil,  Counseiller  du 
parlement  de  Paris,  who  had  been  sent  to  Poland  by 


MARIE   C  A  SI  MI  RE,  1 83 

the  King  of  England (j/<:),  being  near  the  queen  when  it 
rained  agreatdeal,  she  said  to  him,  '  Monsieur  I'envoi, 
let  us  take  a  walk  ; '  he,  not  daring  to  refuse  her. 
He  wore  on  that  day  a  fine  wig  ;  nevertheless  he 
endured  the  rain  for  some  time,  and  then  said  to  her, 
'  Madam,  your  Majesty  is  getting  wet.'  '  Say,  rati  cr,' 
answered  the  queen,  '  that  you  are  learning  how  to 
spoil  your  fine  wig,'  and  she  continued  in  the  rain 
maliciously  a  full  half  hour.  She  is  very  sportive, 
although  dignified  and  proud.  It  is  she  who  governs 
the  state  ;  the  Royal  Council  being  only  composed 
of  the  king,  the  queen,  and  one  of  her  women  (!), 
v.'ho  is  generally  no  more  than  \\^x  feinnte  de  chambre. 
At  ni_;ht  the  queen  goes  to  the  comedy,  has  suj)per 
about  eleven  o'clock,  and  retires  to  rest  about  two 
hours  after  midnight.  Her  suite  consists  of  twelve 
ladies-in-waiting,  all  daughters  of  palatines,  and  the 
great  lords  of  the  kingdom.  She  speaks  Polish  better 
than  the  Poles  themselves  (!),  and  with  so  much 
elegance,  if  there  is  any  in  that  language,  that  she  is 
an  object  of  admiration.  She  has  been  quite  long 
enough  in  Poland  to  learn  it,  for  she  has  been  there 
since  she  was  nine  years  of  age  ;  T  believe,"  continues 
the  Abbe,  "  you  know  why  she  came  into  Poland  so 
young  and  the  progress  of  her  fortunes." 

"  The  Princess  Louise  Marie  having  been  chosen 
wife  of  the  King  of  Poland,  the  ambassadors  from 
that  power  came  to  Paris  to  conduct  this  princess 
to  her  new  home.  Luckily  Mdlle.  d'Arquiens  was 
known  to  the  new  queen.  She  pleased  her  very 
much  by  her  beauty  and  spirit.  She  a^^ked  M.  d' 
Arquiens,  her  father,  if  he  would  permit  her  to  take 


t84  the  reign  of  yoHN  sobieskt. 

this  young  girl  with  her  to  Poland.  He  readily 
consented.  When  she  arrived  at  Warsaw  the  queen 
made  her  one  of  her  ladies-in-waiting;  her  great 
gifts  of  mind  and  person  soon  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  chief  men  of  the  kingdom."  Our  author  then 
goes  on  to  say  how  Sobieski  fell  in  love  with  her, 
but  was  put  off  by  Queen  Marie  Louise,  who  married 
her  favourite  to  le  prince  des  Amoches  "  [Zamojski — 
this  is  an  astonishing  corruption  of  the  name].  After 
his  death,  however,  Sobieski  renewed  his  suit^  and 
was  successful.  M.  I'Abb^  winds  up  his  account  of 
the  royal  pair  by  saying  that  many  of  the  Poles  did 
not  love  thtir  king  and  queen,  the  former  for  his 
avarice  and  the  latter  for  her  pride ;  they  treat  them, 
however,  he  adds  with  great  respect.  Of  Prince 
James,  the  eldest  son,  he  says  :  "  The  first  eight  or  ten 
years  of  his  life  gave  much  hope,  but  these  expecta- 
tions have  not  been  fulfilled  ;  he  is  short,  very  lean, 
ugly  in  face,  hunch-backed.  He  is  effeminate, 
although  he  knows  his  military  exercises  perfectly. 
vBesideshe  knows  a  good  deal  of  divinity,  philosophy, 
and  history,  is  very  skilful  in  dancing,  and  sings 
tolerably.  He  leSds  a  life  but  little  in  accordance 
with  his  rank.  He  is  only  allowed  a  very  small 
retinue  and  very  little  money,  but  dresses  handsomely 
in  the  French  style.  His  fine  dress  he  owes  to  his 
mother,  who  is  very  fond  of  him.  At  one  time  the 
king  wished  to  have  him  sit  beside  him  under  his 
canopy  at  the  diet,  but  the  palatines  and  the  senators 
would  not  permit  it,  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  retire 
with  shame,  and  has  never  appeared  there  since.  The 
Abbe  in  conclusion  says  the  Prince  that  the  general 


AfADAME   ROY  ALE.  185 

Opinion  is  that  he  will  not  succeed  his  father,  because 
he  is  unpopular  and  being  poor  cannot  entertain." 

M.  I'Abbe  now  describes  the  princess.  "This  prin- 
cess, who  is  called  Madame  Royale,  takes  precedence 
of  her  two  younger  brothers,  Alexander  and  Con- 
stantine,  as  is  the  custom  of  the  country.  She  is  now 
fourteen  years  of  age  ;  small,  and  will  never  be  of  good 
stature  ;  fat,  but  rather  pretty.  She  has  plenty  of 
sense,  sings  nicely,  speaks  Latin  to  perfection,  and 
French  also.  She  is  proud,  and  loves  to  thwart 
those  who  do  not  please  her.  She  has  a  great 
dislike  to  the  French  nation,  so  that  she  once  said 
to  me,  '  M.  I'Abbe,  I  like  you  very  well,  but  I 
should  like  you  better  if  you  were  not  a  French- 
man.* She  is  passionately  fond  of  the  king  her 
father,  and  the  king  loves  her  also,  and  cannot  bear 
her  long  out  of  his  sight.  If  they  allowed  this  young 
princess  to  follow  her  own  inclinations,  she  would 
be  dressed  in  the  Polish  fashion,  as  she  has  a  great 
dislike  to  the  French  style.  She  dresses  very  hand- 
somely. Her  governess  is  the  wife  of  a  palatine, 
and  she  has  a  suite  of  four  ladies-in-waiting  and 
some  attendants." 

We  shall  omit  his  descriptions  of  the  other  two 
princes  and  borrow  some  of  his  remarks  on  Polish 
institutions. 

Of  the  senate  he  says  :  "  It  is  composed  of  the 
king,  the  bishops,  the  palatines,  the  senators,  the 
castellans,  and  the  nuntii.  They  sit  in  arm-chairs  on 
each  side  of  the  king  according  to  their  rank  and 
dignity:  those  of  the  crown  (Corona)  on  the  right, 
and  the    Lithuanians   on    the    left       The    nuntii  are 


l86  THE   REIGN   OF  JOHN   SOBIESKI, 

behind,    seated    on    benches    covered    with    Turkey 
carpets." 

The  Abbe  was  witness  of  an  instance  of  the  exercise 
of  the  liberum  veto,  which  he  calls  "  tine  fort  mechatite 
politique''  "  The  day  on  which  the  diet  was  to  close, 
being  Friday  before  Palm  Sunday,  the  assembly 
continued  in  session  till  two  hours  after  midnight, 
which  was  extraordinary ;  for  they  had  resolved 
several  years  previously  that  no  lights  should  be 
brought  into  the  senate,  and  that  they  should  retire 
at  the  close  of  each  day.  As  this  was  the  last  day  of 
the  diet,  twelve  pages  holding  torches  in  their  hands 
entered  the  hall  of  the  senate.  A  nuntius  from 
Lithuania,  gained  over  by  the  Imperialists  [i.e.,  the 
German  Court],  with  the  view  of  breaking  up  the 
diet,  rose,  and  after  having  made  many  objections, 
had  the  rashness  and  boldness  to  abuse  the  king 
at  great  length  calling  him  a  miser  and  unfit  to  rule. 
A  bishop,  friendly  to  the  king,  who  sat  near  the 
nuntius,  arose  and  demanded  from  the  senate  punish- 
ment for  the  insults  offered  to  his  Majesty.  The 
nuntius  thereupon  struck  the  bishop  violently  in  the 
stomach  with  his  elbow,  crying  out  that  he  was 
fitter  to  live  in  an  alley  than  to  be  seated  in  an 
episcopal  chair,  and  finally  half  drew  his  sabre  from 
its  sheath.  The  king,  apprehending  a  riot,  rose  from 
the  throne,  took  his  sabre  in  his  hand,  and  called 
out  to  his  soldiers  and  guards,  who  entered  in  great 
number.  The  senate  at  this  time  appeared  more 
like  an  assembly  of  rioters  than  a  body  of  dignified 
senators  and  palatines.  In  the  midst  of  this  tumult 
the  nuntius,  who  had  been  the  aggressor,  declared  the 


THE   POLISH  NOBLES.  1 87 

diet  at  an  end,  and  insisted  that  whatever  was 
determined  upon  would  be  null  and  void.  At  the 
same  time,  trusting  to  the  darkness,  he  made  his 
escape  unperceived  from  the  assembly.  Seeing  that 
he  had  gone  out,  several  ran  after  him,  but  he  had 
ordered  his  servants  to  have  a  boat  in  readiness  so 
that  he  might  cross  as  quickly  as  possible  to  the  other 
side  of  the  Vistula.  Thus  an  end  was  put  to  the 
proceedings  of  that  diet.  All  the  churches  in  War- 
saw were  laid  under  an  interdict  on  Saturday  in 
consequence  of  the  insult  offered  to  a  bishop.  This 
interdict  was  removed  early  on  Palm  Sunday,  so  as 
not  to  prevent  the  ceremonies  of  Holy  Week." 

Of  the  nobility  of  Poland  our  author  tells  us  that 
they  had  power  of  life  and  death  over  their  serfs,  so 
that  they  could  put  them  to  death  whenever  they 
pleased.  He  also  narrates  some  scandalous  stories 
of  their  treatment  of  the  peasant  women  on  their 
domains. 

.  The  chief  faults  he  finds  with  the  Polish  nation  are 
a  general  inclination  to  avarice,  and  the  want  of  any 
proper  administration  of  justice  throughout  the  king- 
dom.    The  tribunals  were  everywhere  corrupt. 

The  nobles  were  splendid  in  their  dresses,  as  we 
have  already  seen  from  the  accounts  of  the  gorgeous 
embassies  which  they  sent  to  France.  They  shaved 
their  heads  with  the  exception  of  a  tuft  on  the 
top  ;  they  did  not  wear  beards,  but  long  and  thick 
moustaches,  which  almost  entirely  covered  their 
mouths.  The  ladies  were  dressed  in  the  French 
style.  If  one  of  them  left  her  house  to  go  to  church 
or  to  pay  a  visit  at  but   a  distance  of  twenty  paces. 


l88  THE   REIGN   OF  yOHN   SOBIESKI. 

she  always  went  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  six  horses. 
The  peasants  were  obliged  to  work  five  days  a  week 
on  their  masters'  estates ;  if  they  neglected  this 
corvee  they  were  liable  to  personal  chastisement. 

Of  their  marriage  ceremonies  the  Abbe  tells  us 
that  they  were  splendid,  and  lasted  generally  three 
days.  He  was  present  on  one  occasion  when  one  of 
the  ladies-in-waiting  to  the  queen  was  married  to  a 
palatine.  He  also  describes  the  pomp  of  their 
funerals.  Here  again  scenes  of  great  disorder  fre- 
quently occurred.  Towards  the  conclusion  of  the 
funeral  of  a  Prince  Radziwill  three  cavaliers  entered 
the  church  one  after  the  other.  The  first  carried 
the  sabre  of  the  deceased,  the  second  his  javelin, 
and  the  third  his  lance.  They  rode  into  the  church 
at  full  speed,  and  broke  the  weapons  which  they 
brought  against  the  sides  of  the  bier.  The  last 
of  these  riders,  who  carried  the  lance,  after  having 
broken  it  against  his  master's  grave,  let  himself  fall 
gently  from  his  horse  as  if  he  were  dead  ;  at  the 
same  time  the  priests  seized  his  horse  as  a  perquisite, 
and  the  rider  was  obliged  to  redeem  it.  Many  pieces 
of  money  were  then  thrown  on  the  ground  :  every- 
body hastened  to  pick  them  up  and  get  a  share.  This 
very  unecclesiastical  ceremony  caused  such  tumult 
that  several  bishops,  priests,  and  noblemen  were 
thrown  to  the-  ground.  Confusion  reigned  supreme. 
But  when  all  the  ceremony  was  concluded  the 
ecclesiastics  who  had  been  engaged  in  it  had  a  great 
feast,  at  which  Hungarian  wine  flowed  copiously. 

With  these  remarks  on  some  Polish  domestic  cere- 
monies we  leave  our  anonymous  traveller.     In  cor- 


190  THE  REIGN  OF  JOHN  SOBIESKL 

roboration  of  his  observations  on  the  diet,  it  may  be 
well  to  add  the  very  sensible  reflections  of  Bernard 
Connor,  his  contemporary  (ii.  105).  "  Certainly  there 
is  no  assembly  in  Europe  more  subject  to  disorders, 
more  distracted  by  cabals  and  factions,  and,  in  fine, 
more  corrupted  by  bribery  and  base  practices,  which 
is  the  reason  that  the  Diet  of  Poland  seldom*  con- 
cludes upon  what  they  sit  and  deliberate  about, 
though  it  should  be  the  greatest  importance  imagin- 
able. All  these  intrigues  and  mismanagements  are 
generally  fomented  by  the  two  powerful  factions  of 
the  Houses  of  Austria  and  Bourbon.  Every  one 
knows  the  great  advantages  the  emperors  have  had, 
when  they  have  maintained  a  good  correspondence 
or  confederation  with  the  Poles  against  their  common 
enemy  the  Turks  and  Tatars.  And  on  the  other  side, 
it  is  the  French  interest  to  prevent  and  oppose  such 
correspondence  and  endeavour  to  render  all  means 
ineffectual  which  might  otherwise  favour  the  Emperor 
to  enlarge  his  dominions.  Hereupon  the  Poles  are  so 
weak-sighted  that  they  never  reflect  that  neither  the 
Emperor  nor  the  French  king  have  any  kindness  for 
them,  but  only  make  use  of  them  as  instruments  the 
better  to  accomplish  their  designs.  There  is  nothing 
that  can  promote  or  favour  foreign  factions  more  than 
the  unlimited  prerogatives  of  each  member  of  the 
diet ;  for  the  king,  senators,  and  deputies  have  all 
equal  voices  and  equal  power  in  their  affirmative  or 
negative  votes ;  and  affairs  are  not  concluded  or 
agreed  upon  by  plurality  of  voices,  but  universal  con- 
sent of  all  the  three  orders,  and  the  free  approbation 
of  every  member  of  the  diet  in  particular  ;  so  that  if 


THE   POLISH  DIET.  I9I 

but  one  person  only,  who  has  a  lawful  vote,  thinks  fit 
to  refuse  his  consent  to  what  all  the  rest  have  agreed 
to,  he  alone  can  interrupt  their  proceedings  and 
annihilate  their  suffrages.  Nay,  what  is  yet  more 
extravagant,  if,  for  example,  there  were  thirty  articles 
or  bills  to  pass,  and  they  all  unanimously  agreed  to 
nine  and  twenty,  yet  if  but  one  deputy  disapproved 
of  the  thirtieth,  not  only  that,  but  also  the  other  nine 
and  twenty  are  void  and  of  no  force,  and  this  because 
all  the  articles  at  first  proposed  have  not  passed." 

Connor  bears  ample  testimony  to  the  efforts 
made  by  the  French  and  Austrians  to  direct  the 
policy  of  the  Republic,  each  weakening  them  for 
their  own  ends  and  using  them  as  a  means  to 
carry  out  their  mutual  hostilities.  In  fact,  both 
the  French  and  Austrians  had  a  number  of  the 
corrupt  Polish  nobles  in  their  pay.  We  have  already 
found  the  Opalinskis  and  the  Morsztyns,  and 
they  were  typical  persons.  Connor  further  quaintly 
illustrates  the  disgraceful  scene  which  the  Abbe 
witnessed  in  the  diet.  "  Every  member  of  the  diet, 
after  having  obtained  leave  of  their  marshal,  who  can 
only  stop  their  mouths,  has  a  right  to  speak  and 
harangue  there  as  long  as  he  pleases  ;  nay,  can  say 
what  he  will,  for  they  often  abuse  one  another  and 
affront  their  king  to  his  face,  branding  him  with  the 
infamous  titles  of  perjured,  unjust,  and  the  like. 
They  often  likewise  threaten  him  and  his  children 
when  perhaps  they  have  the  least  reason.  The 
occasion  of  this  is  generally  in  that  they  come  drunk 
into  the  diet,  and  consequently  talk  only  as  the 
spirit  moves,  either  good  or  bad.    Nay,  you  shall  have 


102     ,  THE   REIGN  OF  yOHN  SOBIESKI. 

seme  of  these  fuddle-caps  talk  nonsense  for  two  or 
three  hours  together,  trespassing  on  the  patience  of 
the  soberer  sort  with  a  railing,  carping,  injurious,  and 
ill-digested  discourse  without  anybody's  ever  daring 
to  interrupt  them,  though  they  spin  it  out  never  so 
long  ;  for  if  the  marshal  himself  should  then  presume 
to  bid  them  hold  their  tongues  they  would  infallibly 
dissolve  the  diet  by  protesting  against  the  proceed- 
ings thereof,  so  that  the  prudenter  way  is  always  to 
hear  them  out,  and  moreover  to  show  no  dislike  to 
the  impertinent  speeches  they  have  made." 


X. 


THE   DECLINE   OF   POLAND— THE   SAXON   KINGS. 


(1698-1763.) 


Much  as  Poland  had  already  suffered,  she  had  had 
gleams  of  grandeur  and  dignity,  which  had  relieved 
the  gloomier  pages  of  her  history;  she  now  entered 
upon  a  period  of  decay,  which  was  only  ended  by  the 
complete  annihilation  of  her  independence. 

The  eldest  son  of  Sobieski,  James,  who  has  already 
been  mentioned  as  being  present  with  his  father  in 
the  glorious  campaign  of  1683,  put  himself  forward  as 
a  candidate  for  the  vacant  throne  ;■  but,  according  to 
some  authorities,  his  mother  did  all  she  could  to 
prevent  his  election,  having  conceived  a  dislike  to 
him.  At  one  time  he  seemed  to  have  a  large  party 
in  his  favour,  but  it  gradually  dwindled,  and  the  real 
contest  lay  between  the  Prince  of  Conti,  a  nephew  of 
Louis  XIV.,  and  Frederick  Augustus,  the  Elector  of 
Saxony.  Frederick  was  elected  ;  in  order  to  qualify 
for  the  Polish  throne,  he  had  already  abjured  Protes- 
tantism, and  his  descendants  have  remained  Roman 
Catholics  to  this  day.  In  1699.  by  the  treaty  of 
Carlowitz,  the  Sultan  consented  to    restore  Kaminiec 

14  ^93 


AUGUSTUS    II. 


CHARLES  XII,  195 

and  all  that  part  of  Podolia  and  the  Ukraine  which 
had  been  taken  from  King  Michael  ;  by  this  settle- 
ment the  new  sovereign  gained  some  favour  among 
his  subjects,  but  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  got 
possession  of  Elbing  as  a  guarantee  for  200,000 
thalers,  which  he  declared  were  owing  to  him  from 
the  Republic.  This  able  ruler  became  more  than 
ever  a  formidable  adversary  of  Poland  on  succeed- 
ing a  short  time  afterwards  in  getting  himself 
recognised  as   king  of  Prussia. 

The  country  at  this  time  was  rent  by  the  rival 
factions  of  the  Oginskis  and  Sapiehas,  who  carried  on 
open  war  with  each  other.  The  king  without  the 
consent  of  the  diet  made  a  secret  treaty  with  Peter, 
the  Tsar  of  Russia,  with  the  view  of  wresting  Livonia 
and  Ingria  from  the  Swedes.  But  they  found  a 
vigorous  adversary  in  the  young  Swedish  king, 
Charles  XII.,  who  was  destined  to  make  Europe 
resound  with  his  exploits.  The  Russian  Tsar  was 
defeated  at  Narva  in  1700  and  both  Cracow  and 
Warsaw  were  taken  by  the  Swedes,  the  former 
after  the  victory  of  Kliszow  in  1702.  Charles 
now  established  his  headquarters  at  Heilsberg  in 
Warmia,  and  declared  the  throne  of  Poland 
vacant.  At  his  dictation  Stanislaus  Leszczynski,  the 
palatine  of  Posen,  was  elected  king.  Stanislaus  had 
been  sent  to  Heilsberg  while  Charles  was  there,  in 
order  to  ascertain  the  views  of  the  conqueror,  who  by 
a  series  of  brilliant  successes  had  all  Poland  at  his 
feet.  The  Pole  spoke  so  sensibly  about  the  condition 
of  affairs  that  the  Swedish  king  was  charmed,  and 
said  when    he  had   left  his   presence,  "  I   never  saw  a 


196  THE  DECLINE   OF   POLAND. 

man  more  fitted  to  conciliate  all  parties  ;  he  shall 
always  be  my  friend."  Stanislaus  was  at  this  time 
about  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  having  been  born 
at  Lemberg  in  1677;  his  father  Raphael  Leszczynski 
had  been  grand  treasurer  of  the  country.  The  young 
Stanislaus  travelled  some  time  in  the  west  of  Europe, 
and  had  returned  to  Poland  on  the  death  of  Sobieski 
in  1696.  He  presided  at  the  diet  which  elected 
Augustus  II.,  and  became  palatine  of  Posen  in  1703. 
But  to  return  to  the  embassy.  When  Stanislaus 
came  back  from  seeing  Charles  he  was  thanked  by 
the  confederation  of  V/arsaw  for  the  favourable  con- 
ditions which  he  had  obtained,  and  they  proceeded 
to  elect  another  king,  setting  aside  Augustus  alto- 
gether. There  were  three  new  candidates,  the  prince 
of  Conti,  and  the  palatines  Radziwill  and  Lubomirski. 
Charles  XII.  was  eager  that  Stanislaus  should  be 
appointed,  and  when  Cardinal  Radziejowski  endea- 
voured to  alter  his  determination,  the  Swedish  king 
asked,  "  What  have  you  got  to  say  against  Stanislaus  ?  " 
"Sire,"  replied  the  ecclesiastic,  "he  is  too  young." 
"  But  he  is  about  my  own  age,"  replied  the  king, 
turning  his  back  on  the  prelate.  At  the  diet  held  on 
the  1 2th  of  July,  an  overwhelming  majority  elected 
Stanislaus.  Charles  XII.  sent  on  the  same  day  a 
brilliant  embassy  to  the  new  king,  and  gave  him  some 
soldiers  to  help  him  in  supporting  his  clairn.  For 
the  country  was  now  divided  into  two  factions,  that 
of  Augustus  II.  supported  by  the  Tsar,  and  Stanis- 
laus by  Charles.  The  next  move  of  the  Swedish 
king  was  to  occupy  Lemberg,  and  while  he  was  busy 
with  his  military  operations  there,  Augustus  marched 


TREATY   OF  ALTRANSTADT.  igy 

on  the  capital  and  tried  to  seize  his  rival.  Stanislaus 
had  only  just  time  to  send  his  family  to  Posen.  On 
this  occasion  his  infant  daughter  aged  one  year  was 
nearly  lost  ;  the  child  was  abandoned  by  its  nurse  in 
the  confusion,  and  afterwards  found  in  a  stable.  This 
was  the  daughter  who  as  wife  of  Louis  XV.  was 
destined  to  become  queen  of  France. 

Stanislaus  now  joined  Charles  at  Leinbcrg,  and  the 
two  forced  Augustus  to  quit  successively  Warsaw  and 
Cracow  and  to  take  refuge  at  Dresden.  On  the  27th 
of  July,  1705,  the  Diet  of  Warsaw  formally  declared 
the  deposition  of  Augustus,  and  on  the  4th  of  October 
the  new  king  and  his  wife  Catherine  Opalinska  were 
consecrated.  Charles  XII.  was  present  incognito  at 
the  ceremony,  in  a  reserved  seat  in  the  cathedral. 

Augustus  II.  now  secretly  visited  Lithuania,  where 
he  had  an  interview  with  the  Tsar  Peter.  On  ascer- 
taining this  meeting  Charles  and  Stanislaus  renewed 
the  campaign,  and  at  first  were  successful  against  the 
Russians.  Charles  XII.,  wishing  to  inflict  a  blow 
upon  Augustus  in  his  hereditary  states,  invaded 
Saxony  and  established  his  headquarters  at  Altran- 
stadt. 

Augustus  was  now  forced  to  sign  the  humiliating 
treaty  called  after  this  place  (Sept.  24,  1706),  by  which 
he  renounced  the  Polish  crown  and  recognised  Stanis- 
laus as  king  ;  he  was  also  at  the  same  time  compelled 
to  surrender  the  unfortunate  Patkul  to  the  vengeance 
of  Charles.  The  story  of  this  Livonian  nobleman  is 
well  known.  He  had  presented  a  petition  of  the 
states  of  that  province  to  the  father  of  the  Swedish 
king,  who  meditated  arresting  him  for  treason.  Warned 


igS  THE   DECLINE    OF  POLAND. 

in  time,  Patkul  succeeded  in  escaping  from  the  clutches 
of  Charles  XL,  and  took  refuge  at  the  court  of  Augus- 
tus, whom  he  had  endeavoured  to  persuade  to  make 
himself  master  of  Livonia.  Augustus  had  attempted 
to  arrange  the  escape  of  Patkul  from  Konigstcin 
Castle,  where  he  was  confined  in  order  to  evade  the 
demand  of  Charles,  but  owing  to  the  hesitation  of 
Patkul  he  was  seized  and  tried  by  court-martial  at 
Casimir.  There  he  continued  a  prisoner  for  some 
months,  and  was  finally  broken  on  the  wheel,  under 
circumstances  of  the  most  revolting  cruelty,  on  the 
30th  of  September,  1707.  An  account  of  his  last 
moments  has  been  handed  down  by  a  Lutheran 
pastor  who  attended  him  at  the  time  of  his  execution. 
In  spite,  however,  of  his  temporary  success  Stanis- 
laus was  not  to  be  allowed  to  reign  in  peace  ;  in  the 
year  after  the  treaty  (1707),  at  a  meeting  at  Lemberg 
the  abdication  of  Augustus  was  declared  null  and 
void.  The  Poles  could  not  forget  that  Stanislaus 
had  been  appointed  by  foreign  influence.  The  plague 
now  raged  in  the  country,  and  great  numbers  of  the 
inhabitants  were  carried  off  at  Danzig  and  Warsaw. 
Peter  now  invaded  Poland,  and  saw  himself  obliged 
to  retire  and  gather  up  his  strength  to  meet  his  rival, 
who  entered  Russian  territory  with  a  large  army. 
The  battle  of  Poltava  in  1709,  by  which  the  Swedes 
were  crushed,  was  fatal  to  the  cause  of  Stanislaus. 
Charles  had  been  allured  to  invade  Peter's  dominions 
by  the  hetman  Mazeppa,  who  had  promised  him  his 
co-operation.  The  events  of  the  war  belong  rather 
to  Russian  than  Polish  history.  Although  Mazeppa 
had  received  much  kindness  from    Peter,  and    had 


CHARLES   XIL   AT  BENDER.  IQQ 

made  him  the  most  lavish  promises  of  fidelity,  he  had 
for  a  long  time  been  meditating  treason.  The  elderly 
hetman  was  in  reality  in  love  with  the  daughter  of 
Kochubei  a  Malo-Russian,  and  this  perhaps  retarded 
his  movements.  Some  of  his  love-letters  have  been 
preserved. 

Augustus  now  tore  up  the  treaty  of  Altranstadt 
and  announced  by  a  manifesto  (Aug.  8,  1709),  that 
he  was  about  to  resume  the  Polish  crown.  Stanis- 
laus saw  himself  obliged  to  follow  the  Swedes  into 
Pomerania,  from  whence  he  passed  into  Sweden  to 
await  the  result  of  the  negotiations  begun  on  the 
conclusion  of  peace.  His  reign  thus  lasted  only  four 
years,  1 704-1 709.  His  abdication  was  the  condition 
preliminary  to  every  arrangement ;  he  accordingly 
departed  for  Turkey  to  join  Charles  XH.,  but  he  was 
recognised  by  the  hospodar  of  Moldavia  (Feb.  17 13), 
arrested  and  sent  prisoner  to  Bender.  Count  Ponia- 
towski  laboured  to  assist  the  two  kings  ;  he  succeeded 
in  persuading  the  Sultan  to  take  arms  against  Peter 
and  Augustus.  It  was  settled  in  the  divan  that 
80,000  men  should  be  given  to  Stanislaus  to  bring 
him  back  into  his  dominions,  that  he  should  open 
the  campaign,  and  that  Charles  should  follow  him 
at  the  head  of  an  army  more  numerous  still. 
Stanislaus  accompanied  by  several  Poles  actually 
set  out  on  the  8th  to  take  the  command  of  these 
troops  at  Chocim.  Suddenly,  however,  the  Sultan 
changed  his  intentions,  and  persuaded  by  his  council 
who,  according  to  some  writers,  were  under  the 
influence  of  Russian  bribes,  sent  an  order  to  bring 
Stanislaus  back  to  Bender. 


20O  THE   DECLINE   OF   POLAND. 

When  Charles  was  preparing  to  quit  Turkey,  he 
could  not  induce  Stanislaus  to  accompany  him  in  the 
new  expeditions  which  he  was  planning.  "  No,"  said 
Stanislaus,  "  my  resolution  is  taken,  and  you  will 
never  see  me  draw  the  sword  for  the  restoration  of 
my  crown."  *'  Well,"  replied  Charles,  "  I  will  draw 
it  for  you  ;  and  in  the  meantime,  before  we  make  our 
triumphant  entry  into  Warsaw,  I  give  you  my  princi- 
pality of  Deux  Fonts,  with  its  revenues."  Stanislaus 
was  set  at  liberty  on  the  23rd  of  May,  1714  ;  he  went 
in  disguise' through  Hungary,  Austria,  and  Germany, 
and  took  possession  of  his  little  state.  Thither  he 
was  soon  followed  by  his  family.  But  even  there  he 
was  not  allowed  to  live  in  peace.  The  popularity 
which  he  enjoyed  among  his  countrymen  aroused 
fears  in  his  enemies — a  plot  was  entered  into  for 
getting  rid  of  him.  On  the  15th  of  August,  1716,  he 
was  fired  at  by  some  conspirators  in  ambuscade. 
Three  of  the  assassins  were  seized,  among  them  a 
Saxon  officer  named  Lacroix,  who  was  chief  of  the 
band.  They  would  have  been  killed  on  the  spot  had 
not  the  king  saved  them  by  crying  out,  "  I  pardon 
you,  that  you  may  live  to  become  better  men ! " 
Augustus  protested  that  he  knew  nothing  of  this 
conspiracy,  but  he  was  probably  privy  to  it,  and  his 
minister,  Fleming,  is  supposed  to  have  instigated  it. 

But  the  hopes  of  the  king  were  completely  destroyed 
by  the  death  of  Charles  in  September,  17 18.  He  was 
obliged  to  surrender  Deux  Fonts,  which  was  claimed 
by  the  heir.  Count  Gustavus.  Stanislaus  then  asked 
for  an  asylum  in  France,  and  was  allowed  to  go  to 
Weissenburg  in  Alsace  (January,  1720),  with  a  small 


CGURLAND.  201 

pension,  which  was,  however,  irregularly  paid. 
Augustus  II.  complained  of  this  retreat  being  allowed 
to  his  rival,  but  the  French  Court  paid  no  attention 
to  his  objections.  Here  another  attempt  was  made 
upon  his  life  by  means  of  poisoned  tobacco.  The 
contriver  of  this  outrage  was  never  discovered.  The 
Polish  ex-king  lived  in  obscurity  in  his  humble  retreat 
till  his  daughter  married  Louis  XV.  (September  5, 
1725)  by  means  of  a  set  of  intrigues  hardly  unravelled 
at  the  present  time,  but  of  which  the  discussion  more 
properly  belongs  to  the  history  of  France.  Stanislaus 
then  had  a  better  residence  assigned  him,  at  first  the 
castle  of  Chambord,  and  then  Meudon.  We  must 
here  leave  him,  but  shall  shortly  hear  of  him  again. 

In  the  time  of  Augustus  the  affairs  of  Courland  also 
occupied  a  prominent  place.  The  duchy  had  been 
held  by  its  dukes  under  the  suzerainty  of  Poland  from 
the  year  1561.  Peter  the  Great  married  his  niece 
Anne,  daughter  of  his  brother  Ivan,  to  Frederick 
William,  duke  of  the  province.  This  prince,  however, 
died  of  excessive  drinking  in  171 1.  The  Tsar,  being 
all  powerful,  was  able  to  exclude  the  brother  of 
Frederick  from  the  succession,  and  contrived  that  the 
administration  of  the  country  should  be  carried  on  in 
the  name  of  the  Grand  Duchess.  And  thus  Courland 
fell  more  and  more  under  the  influence  of  Russia, 
and  was  practically  lost  to  Poland.  This  was  still 
more  the  case  when  Anne  became  Empress  of  Russia. 
In  1 737,  by  her  influence,  Biren  was  elected  duke,  but  in 
1740  he  was  sent  to  Sibeiia.  The  race  of  the  Kettlers, 
the  original  dukes,  was  now  extinct.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  the  Poles  had  recognised  the  secularisation 


203  THE   DECLINE   OF  POLAND. 

of  the  ecclesiastical  property  in  Courland,  and  had 
promised  to  protect  Gotthold  Kettler  as  feudatory  of 
Poland  on  condition  that  in  case  of  the  extinction  of 
the  house  of  Kettler,  the  duchy  should  be  incorporated 
with  Poland,  and  divided  into  palatinates.  The 
Courlanders  had  offered  their  duchy  to  Maurice  of 
Saxony,  but  the  Russians  opposed  the  arrangement, 
although  he  was  willing  to  marry  the  widowed  Anne. 
The  election  of  Biren  had  been  sanctioned  by 
Augustus  III.,  but  the  Russians  held  the  duchy 
during  his  captivity,  and  he  was  restored  when 
Catherine  came  to  the  throne  in  1762.  Biren  died 
in  1772,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Peter,  a  weak 
and  incapable  ruler.  The  Courlanders  in  1795  formally 
surrendered  their  duchy  to  the  Russian  Empress,  since 
which  time  it  has  been  incorporated  with  that  Empire. 

We  must  now  turn  to  consider  the  condition  of  the 
Dissidents. 

Liberty  of  opinion  in  religious  matters  did  not 
make  much  progress  in  Poland.  But  perhaps  it  is 
hard  to  blame  her  when  the  neighbouring  powers 
exhibited  such  want  of  toleration.  We  must  re- 
member that  about  this  time  John  Locke  had  begun 
to  preach  it  in  England.  In  the  reign  of  John  Sobieski 
(1689),  ^  noble  of  Lithuania,  Casimir  Ly^czynski, 
had  been  cruelly  put  to  death  on  a  frivolous  charge 
of  blasphemy.  He  was  sentenced  to  Jaave  Ins  tongue 
cut  out  and  then  to  be  beheaded  and^burn\  This 
atrocious  sentence  was  carried  out  irt  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  the  king.  Bishop  Z^uski^  whose 
letters  furnish  such  valuable  materials  tor  thb.  his- 
torical  student,  has    recorded    the    execution    with 


(    ^ 


THE   DISSIDENTS.  203 

manifest  satisfaction.  As  regards  Frederick  Augustus, 
although  tolerant  himself,  he  allowed  the  clergy  to 
carry  out  their  laws  against  heresy,  because  he  was 
anxious  to  gain  their  support. 

The  hopes  which  the  Protestants  had  formed  on 
the  election  of  Stanislaus  Leszczynski,  were  doomed 
to  disappointment  when  the  rule  of  that  amiable  king 
was  terminated  by  the  battle  of  Poltava.  In  171 5 
occurred  the  case  of  Sigismund  Unruh,  a  Protestant, 
who,  for  some  trifling  notes  which  he  had  made  in  a 
book,  was  informed  against  before  the  tribunal  of 
Piotrkow,  and  accused  of  having  blasphemed  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church.  For  this  offence  he  was 
sentenced  to  have  his  tongue  torn  out,  his  right  hand 
cut  off,  and  his  body  (after  beheading)  to  be  burnt, 
together  with  his  manuscript,  but  by  a  timely  flight 
he  escaped  the  execution  of  the  sentence,  which  was 
afterwards  annulled,  and  his  property  restored  to  him. 

In  the  year  1724  occurred  the  affair  of  Thorn, 
which  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  throughout  Europe, 
and  was  the  subject  of  many  polemical  pamphlets. 
A  riot  occurred  between  some  Jesuit  students  and 
Protestants  in  that  city,  and  the  latter  were  accused 
of  sacrilege.  In  consequence  of  this,  Rosner,  the 
president  of  the  city  council,  Zernicke,  the  vice-presi- 
dent, and  several  other  leading  citizens,  were  sentenced 
to  be  executed.  Prince  Lubomirski,  with  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  horsemen,  arrived  at  Thorn  to  see  the 
sentence  carried  out.  On  the  7th  of  December,  the 
aged  Rosner  was  beheaded  ;  Zernicke,  the  vice-presi- 
dent, contrived  to  procure  a  pardon,  but  the  rest,  with 
the  exception  of  one  who  embraced  Romanism,  were 


i 


204  ^^^    DECLINE   OF   POLAND. 

executed.  This  sanguinary  affair  was  not  without  its 
effects  upon  the  rest  of  Europe.  The  Protestant  powers 
— Great  Britain,  Prussia,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Hol- 
land— assumed  an  indignant  attitude,  and  the  Poles 
were  especially  annoyed  by  the  speech  of  the  English 
minister  at  Ratisbon.  In  1731  the  ambassador  from 
Great  Britain  at  the  Polish  Court  presented  a  memorial 
to  the  king,  enumerating  the  various  oppressions  to 
which  the  Protestants  were  exposed  in  Poland,  and 
concluding  with  a  threat  of  retaliation  on  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  England  and  the  other  Protestant  States. 
l^ut  all  the  efforts  were  fruitless,  and  even  increased 
the  sufferings  of  the  unfortunate  Dissidents.  But  the 
day  of  reckoning  was  at  hand.  Like  the  French 
noblesse,  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution,  the  infatuated 
Polish  magnates  did  not  see  that  they  were  digging 
the  grave  of  their  country.  In  1733  a  law  was  passed 
by  which  the  Dissidents  were  declared  incapable  of 
holding  any  office  or  enjoying  any  dignity.  We  must 
remember,  however,  that  the  English  Roman  Catholics 
were  hardly  in  a  more  favourable  position,  and  that 
the  Protestants  in  France  were  oppressed. 

On  the  1st  of  January  that  year,  the  worthless 
king  died  ;  a  man  of  mean  capacity,  and  notorious  for 
his  private  vices.  He  had  married  Christina,  Mar- 
gravine of  Baireuth,  who  died  in  1727.  In  his  reign 
Poland  sank  considerably  in  political  dignity,  material 
prosperity,  and  eminence  in  literature  and  arts.  Many 
of  the  Poles  now  wished  to  elect  again  to  the  throne 
Stanislaus  Leszczynski,  who  was  living  in  Lorraine. 
When  the  proposal  was  made  to  him  that  he  should 
quit  his  comfortable  residence,  he  was  at  first  very 


JOURNEY   OF   STANISLAUS.  205 

much  opposed  to  it,  in  spite  of  the  material  assistance 
which  he  was  promised  by  Louis  XV.  "  I  know  the 
Poles  well,"  said  Stanislaus.  "  I  am  sure  that  they 
will  appoint  me,  but  I  am  also  sure  that  they  will 
not  support  me  ;  in  short,  that  I  shall  soon  find  my- 
self near  to  my  enemies  and  far  from  friends."  To 
get  to  Poland  was  no  easy  matter.  There  was  a 
Russian  fleet  in  the  Baltic,  and  Austria  and  Prussia 
gave  orders  to  stop  his  passage  through  their  territories. 
We  see  what  active  foes  Poland  had  on  her  borders, 
and  how  by  her  continual  dissensions  she  played  into 
their  hands.  They  were  always  ready  to  impede  her 
when  she  was  making  efforts  to  ameliorate  her  position, 
as  she  would  certainly  have  done  by  the  election  of 
so  good  and  wise  a  man  as  Stanislaus.  To  make  the 
journey  of  the  Polish  king  secure,  a  stratagem  was 
planned.  A  report  was  circulated  in  France  that  he 
was  about  to  take  the  command  of  a  fleet  fitted  out 
on  the  coast  of  Brittany  and  ready  to  sail  to  Danzig. 
On  the  20th  of  August,  1733,  Stanislaus  took  formal 
leave  of  the  French  royal  family,  and  went  to  Berry, 
to  visit  Cardinal  Bissy.  There  the  Chevalier  de 
Thianges,  who  bore  some  likeness  to  Stanislaus,  put 
on  a  carefully  arranged  costume,  and  took  the  route 
to  Brest.  He  caused  himself  to  be  announced  as  the 
king,  but  took  care  only  to  travel  by  night.  On  the 
26th  of  August,  the  day  on  which  the  diet  opened, 
while  the  false  Stanislaus  embarked  amid  the  roar  of 
cannon,  the  real  one  got  into  a  post-chaise  and  hurried 
off  to  Poland  in  the  company  of  the  Chevalier 
d'Andelot.  He  passed  through  Germany  without  any 
obstacle,  and  arrived  at  Warsaw  during  the  night  of 


2o6  THE   DECLINE   OF  POLAND. 

the  8th  of  September.  On  the  loth  he  appeared  in 
pubhc,  and  his  presence  caused  a  general  rejoicing. 
On  the  nth  he  was  proclaimed  king.  There  were 
sixty  thousand  voices  for  his  election,  and  only 
thirteen  against.  The  disaffected  portion  retired  to 
Praga,  the  suburb  of  Warsaw,  where  they  awaited  the 
approach  of  Russian  troops  in  order  to  proclaim 
Augustus  III.,  the  son  of  the  late  king.  As  the 
Polish  army  had  been  reduced  to  eight  thousand 
men,  it  was  unable  to  defend  the  capital,  and  the 
only  course  open  to  Stanislaus  was  to  retire  to  the 
fortress  of  Danzig,  and  there  to  await  the  succours 
which  France  had  promised.  Five  months  after  the 
Polish  king  had  entered  the  town,  the  Russians  under 
their  general,  Miinich,  began  the  siege.  When  the 
French  troops  arrived  they  consisted  of  only  i,6oo 
men,  under  the  command  of  Count  Pleto.  They  and 
the  inhabitants  were  prepared  to  defend  the  place 
with  spirit,  but  a  Russian  fleet  now  made  its  appear- 
ance, and  blockading  all  the  neighbouring  ports, 
hastened  the  catastrophe.  Stanislaus,  giving  up  all 
hope,  advised  the  authorities  to  surrender  the  town, 
and  quitted  the  place  in  the  garb  of  a  peasant  on  the 
27th  of  June.  He  has  himself  left  an  account  of  his 
marvellous  escape,  which  in  point  of  interest  may 
almost  be  compared  with  those  of  Charles  II.  after 
Worcester,  or  the  young  Pretender  after  Culloden. 
In  his  flight  he  was  assisted  by  peasants,  and  found 
one  of  them  at  least  as  free  from  mercenary  motives 
as  Charles  Stuart  did  his  highland  attendants.  Let 
us  hear  the  very  words  of  Stanislaus  :  "  We  were 
about  to  land,  when,  taking  my  host  aside  and  affec- 


ESCAPE   OF  STANISLAU.^  20y 

tionately  thanking  him  for  all  he  had  done  for  me, 
I  put  into  his  hand  as  many  ducats  drawn  from  my 
pocket  as  mine  could  hold.  The  honest  peasant, 
surprised  and  ashamed,  drew  back  and  endeavoured 
to  escape  me.  '  No,  no,'  said  I,  *  it  is  in  vain  ;  you 
must  receive  this  present.'  As  I  urged  him  more 
strongly,  and  as  he  renewed  his  attempts  to  escape,  the 
others  supposed  that  I  was  quarrelling  with  him,  and 
advanced  to  appease  me.  Perceiving  this  movement 
on  their  part,  he  hastily  said  that  to  satisfy  me  he 
would  accept  ^wo  ducats,  which  he  would  always  keep 
as  a  remembrance  of  the  happiness  he  had  had  in 
knowing  me.  This  noble  disinterestedness  charmed 
me  the  more,  as  I  had  no  reason  to  expect  it  from  a 
man  in  his  condition.  He  took  two  ducats  from  my 
hand,  but  made  such  grimaces  that  I  cannot  express 
them." 

With  considerable  difficulty  Stanislaus  passed 
through  the  lines  of  Cossacks,  crossed  the  Vistula, 
and  by  a  fisherman  was  ferried  over  the  Nogat,  and 
finally  landed  at  Konigsberg,  where  he  might  hope 
for  more  security  than  when  surrounded  by  the 
Russian  armies.  Thence  he  leisurely  proceeded  to 
Lorraine.  In  1735  the  Treaty  of  Vienna  w^as  con- 
cluded"between  France  and  the  German  Empire,  by 
which  Stanislaus  abdicated  the  Polish  throne,  but  was 
to  have  the  title  of  king  during  his  life.  He  was  to 
enjoy  possession  of  the  duchies  of  Lorraine  and  Bar, 
which  after  his  death  were  to  be  permanently  united 
to  France.  On  the  28th  of  June,  1735,  he  signed  the 
decree  of  his  abdication  at  Konigsberg,  and  on  the 
3rd  of  April,  1737,  ^^  ^^s  formally  put  in  possession 


208  J^A^.^D^CLINE   OF  POLAND. 

of  his  new  territories.  He  made  hiiri^elf  very  popular 
among  his  subjects,  so  that  he  earned  the  title  of 
Stanislaus  the  Benevolent.  He  greatly  embellished 
the  cities  of  Nancy  and  Lun^ville,  founded  colleges, 
and  reduced  the  taxation  of  the  duchies.  In  1758 
the  Royal  Academy  of  Nancy  was  established. 
Stanislaus  corresponded  with  several  sovereigns,  and, 
among  literary  men,  with  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Montes- 
quieu, and  Boufiflers.  It  was  a  piece  of  singular  ill- 
fortune  for  Poland  to  have  been  deprived  of  the 
services  of  so  excellent  a  king. 

Up  to  1766,  when  he  had  reached  the  age  of  eighty- 
nine,  he  had  enjoyed  excellent  health  ;  but  on  the  5th 
of  February  of  that  year  his  dressing-gown  acci- 
dentally caught  fire.  He  was  at  length  extricated 
from  his  dangerous  situation,  but  died  on  the  23rd  of 
the  same  month,  and  was  buried  near  his  wife  at 
Nancy.  Two  years  afterwards  his  daughter,  Mary 
Leszczynska,  the  French  queen,  died,  and  her  heart 
was  buried  in  her  father's  vault.  In  1831  a  statue  was 
erected  to  this  excellent  man  at  Nancy.  His  name 
stands  out  amongst  the  worthless  Polish  sovereigns  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  we  have  therefore  allowed 
more  space  for  a  description  of  his  career. 

At  Nancy  appeared  his  remarkable  worl?,  GIos 
Wolny  Wolnosc  Ube^pieczajg.cy  (^'  A  Free  Voice  guaran- 
teeing Freedom  "),  in  which  he  unhesitatingly  spoke 
of  the  errors  of  the  Polish  constitution,  and  gave 
advice  for  their  rectification.  In  a  curious  letter  pre- 
.served  in  Hearne's  "  Collectanea  "  (Doble's  ed.,  ii.  43) 
we  get  a  glimpse  of  him  in  juxtaposition  with  his 
friend    and    protector,    Charles,    who    is    more    fully 


CHARLES   XII.  209 

described.  Of  the  Swedish  king,  Lord  Raby,  the 
writer  of  the  letter,  says  :  "  He  wears  a  black  crape 
cravat,  but  the  cape  of  his  coat,  buttoned  so  close 
about  it,  that  you  cannot  see  whether  he  has  any  or 
no.  His  shirt  and  wristbands  are  commonly  very 
dirty  :  for  he  wears  no  ruffles  or  gloves,  but  on  horse- 
back. His  hands  are  commonly  of  the  same  colour 
of  [5-/^]  his  wristbands  ;  so  that  you  can  hardly  dis- 
tinguish them.  His  hair  is  light  brown,  very  greasy 
and  very  short,  never  combed  but  with  his  fingers. 
He  sits  upon  any  chair  or  stool  he  finds  in  the  house, 
without  any  ceremony  to  dinner,  and  begins  with  a 
great  piece  of  bread  and  butter,  having  stuck  his 
napkin  under  his  chin  :  then  drinks  with  his  mouth 
full  out  of  a  great  silver,  old-fashioned  beaker  small 
beer,  which  is  his  only  liquor.  At  every  meal  he  drinks 
about  two  English  bottles  full  ;  he  then  empties  his 
beaker  twice.  Between  every  bit  of  meat  he  eats  a 
piece  of  bread  and  butter,  which  he  spreads  with  his 
thumb.  He  is  never  more  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
at  dinner,  eats  like  a  horse,  speaks  not  one  word  all 
the  while.  As  soon  as  he  rises,  his  life  guards  sit 
down  at  the  same  table  to  the  same  victuals.  His 
bedchamber  is  a  very  dirty  little  room  with  bare 
walls  ;  no  sheets  nor  canopy  to  his  bed,  but  the  same 
quilt  that  lies  under  him  turns  up  over  him,  and  so 
covers  him.  .  .  ,  His  writing-table  is  of  slit  deal,  with 
only  a  stick  to  support  it,  and  instead  of  a  standish 
a  wooden  thing  with  a  sand-box  of  the  same.  .  .  . 
He  has  a  fine  gilt  Bible  by  his  bedside,  the  only 
thing  that  looks  fine  in  his  equipage.  .  .  .  But  that 
my  letter  is  too  long  already,  I  would  give  you  some 

1=^ 


J5I0  THE   DECLINE   OF  POLAND. 

account  of  the  Polish  Court  of  King  Stanislaus  ;  for 
being  incognito  only  with  a  friend  and  one  footman, 
and  impossible  to  be  known,  I  would  take  a  tour  to 
Leipsic,  where  I  not  only  saw  that  king,  but  he  very 
civilly  came  and  spoke  to  me  and  my  friend,  seeing  we 
were  strangers.  His  Court  has  much  a  better  air  than 
that  of  his  maker  [i.e.^  Charles  XII.],  and  his  mother 
and  wife  were  there,  a  couple  of  well-bred  women, 
well  dressed,  and  both  spoke  very  good  French.  He 
is  a  tall  handsome  young  man,  with  a  great  pair  of 
whiskers  [moustaches],  in  the    Polish  dress,  but  in- 


COIN   OF   AUGUSTUS   III. 


clinable  to  be  fat,  and  a  little  upon  the  dirty,  as  all 
the  Poles  are.  .  .  ." 

After  our  long  digression  upon  Stanislaus  we  will 
now  turn  to  the  king  who  was  appointed  in  his  place. 
Augustus  HI.,  son  of  Augustus  II.,  swore  to  the 
pacta  conventa^  and  was  crowned  king  at  Warsaw  in 
1734.  He  married  Maria  Josefa,  daughter  of  the 
Emperor  Joseph  I.  She  died  in  1757.  In  1736  a 
diet  of  pacification  was  held  at  Warsaw,  which  was 
followed  by  a  general  amnesty.  Its  terms  have 
already  been  explained.  The  country  was  in  a 
wretched  condition  ;  the  king  was  a  coarse  man,  who 
led  a  life  of  indolence  and  pleasure.     One  of  his  chief 


AUGUSTUS   Itt,  ^11 

amusements  appears  to  have  been  to  shoot  at  dogs 
from  the  windows  of  his  palace.  Like  his  father,  he 
could  not  speak  a  word  of  Polish,  and  he  left  every- 
thing to  the  management  of  his  minister  Brlihl.  The 
country  was  flooded  with  false  money,  in  the  circula- 
tion of  which  the  Jews  were  very  active.  The  king, 
as  Elector  of  Saxony,  was  mixed  up  with  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  but  his  l^olish  subjects  were  not  dragged 
into  it.  The  territory  of  the  Republic  was,  however, 
frequently  invaded  by  her  neighbours,  and  Poland 
was  called  Karcznia  Zajezdna,  the  public  inn  :  thus 
the  Russians  in  one  of  their  expeditions  against  the 
Turks  marched  unimpeded  and  without  asking  leave 
through  Podolia  and  the  Ukraine.  Perhaps  the  only 
thing  for  which  posterity  can  be  grateful  to  Augustus 
TIL  is  that  he  !aid  the  foundations  of  the  Dresden 
Picture  Galkry.  He  died  in  that  city  on  October  3, 
1763,  ano  was  buried  there.  Poland  had  now  thirty 
years  more  to  exist  as  an  independent  nation. 


XI. 


STANISLAUS      PONIATOWSKT — THE      THREE      PARTI- 
TIONS. 

(1764-I795.) 

The  following  year,  after  stormy  scenes  in  the 
diet,  Stanislaus  Augustus  Poniatovvski  was  elected 
king,  a  man  of  refined  manners,  but  a  mere  puppet 
in  the  hands  of  Russia,  which  power  caused 
him  to  be  appointed,  as  "Warsaw  was  occupied  by 
Russian  troops.  Coxe  the  traveller  thus  speaks  of 
Stanislaus  :  "  The  King  of  Poland  is  handsome  in  his 
person,  with  an  expressive  countenance,  a  dark  com- 
plexion, Roman  nose,  and  penetrating  eye ;  he  is 
uncommonly  pleasing  in  his  address  and  manner,  and 
possesses  great  sweetness  of  condescension,  tempered 
with  dignity." 

The  Empress  of  Russia  was  eager  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  Poniatowski,  and  was  against  any  plan  for 
continuing  the  royal  power  in  the  house  of  Saxony. 
In  this  she  was  heartily  seconded  by  Frederick  the 
Great,  one  of  the  most  bitter  and  uncompromising 
enemies  of  the  country.  One  of  their  reasons  for 
wishing  Poniatowski  appointed  is  said  to  have  been 


STANISLAUS  AUGUSTUS. 


214  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKI, 

that  they  thought  he  would  become  a  more  complete 
tool  in  their  hands.  The  brothers,  Michael  and 
Augustus  Czartoryski,  the  descendants  of  a  celebrated 
Lithuanian  family,  who  were  the  uncles  of  the  king, 
were  possessed  of  great  influence  in  Poland  at  this 
time,  and  used  their  opportunity  to  cause  some  im- 
portant reforms  to  be  introduced  into  the  government 
of  the  country.  The  system  under  which  the  great 
officials  of  the  realm  were  independent  of  each  other 
and  of  the  king  was  abolished  :  ministers  were  now  to 
be  nominated  by  the  sovereign,  and  to  be  responsible 
to  the  diet,  and  many  other  reforms  were  introduced. 
A  few  words  must  be  added  concerning  this  celebrated 
family,  one  of  whose  members  was  destined  to  play 
such  a  great  part  in  the  subsequent  history  of  Poland. 
The  two  brothers  were  friendly  to  the  patriotic  move- 
ment called  the  Confederation  of  Bar,  which  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  last  great  self-protecting  effort 
of  Poland.  But  they  did  not  long  survive  the  first 
partition  of  the  country.  Michael  died  in  August, 
1775  ;  Augustus  in  1782,  leaving  an  only  son,  Adam 
Casimir,  to  whom  Catherine  wished  to  give  the  Polish 
throne,  if  it  had  not  been  accepted  by  Poniatowski. 
Prince  Adam  Casimir  married  in  1761  the  Countess 
Isabella  Fleming,  daughter  of  a  minister  of  Augustus 
II.,  and  one  of  their  sons  was  the  celebrated  Adam 
George  Czartoryski,  whom  the  Poles  in  the  revolu- 
tion of  1830  elected  their  dictator.  The  journals  of 
this  illustrious  man,  who  was  brought  up  as  a  kind 
of  hostage  at  the  Russian  Court,  where  he  lived  on 
familiar  terms  with  Alexander,  the  son  of  Paul,  both 
while   he   was    Grand    Duke,    and    afterwards   when 


THE    CONFEDERATION   OF  BAR.  215 

Emperor,  have  been  edited  by  Mr.  Gielgud.  Count 
D^bickifhas  also  published  an  account  of  the  famous 
seat  of  the  family  at  Pulawy,  situated  on  the  road 
between  Warsaw  and  Sandomir.  In  this  splendid 
residence  were  gathered  together  some  of  the  most 
interesting  historical  and  literary  relics  to  be  seen  in 
all  Poland.  They  have  now  found  a  resting-place  in 
the  fine  Czartoryski  Museum  at  Cracow,  situated 
near  the  picturesque  Florian  Gate. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  election  of  Stanislaus 
Poniatowski.  In  the  diet  of  1764  he  was  chosen, 
and  signed  ih^ pacta  conveiita.  At  the  same  time  the 
liberum  veto  was  abolished,  for  it  was  felt  everywhere 
that  a  radical  change  was  necessary  in  the  constitu- 
tion. Nothing,  however,  w^as  done  for  the  Dissidents. 
On  the  contrary,  they  were  deprived  of  some  of  the 
privileges  which  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed,  such  as 
the  rights  of  possessing  starosties  and  several  other 
offices.  They  began  to  betake  themselves  to  Russia 
for  assistance,  which  she  seemed  disposed  to  offer. 

In  the  year  1765  occurred  the  terrible  massacres 
of  the  Roman  Catholics  and  Jews  by  the  Cossacks 
under  Gonta — an  outbreak  said  to  have  been  fomented 
by  Russian  agents  ;  proof  however  of  this  accusation 
is  wanting.  In  the  year  1766  the  liberum  veto  was 
restored  through  the  influence  of  the  King  of  Prussia, 
who  was  very  anxious  that  the  Poles  should  not  re- 
form themselves  and  so  preserve  their  independence. 
In  1768  some  patriotic  noblemen,  the  chief  of  whom 
were  Adam  Krasinski,  Bishop  Kamienicki,  Joseph 
Pulawski,  Michael  Krasinski,  and  Joachim  Potocki, 
met  at  the  little  town  of  Bar  in  Podolia,  and  formed 


2l6  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKI. 

what  has  been  called  the  Convention  of  Bar,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  free  the  country  from  foreigners. 
They  organised  an  army,  and  their  military  operations 
extended  over  a  great  part  of  Poland,  but  the  Russian 
troops  stationed  round  the  capital  prevented  their 
junction  with  the  regular  forces  of  the  Republic. 
Their  number  amounted  to  about  eight  thousand,  and 
they  seemed,  unfortunately,  to  have  all  the  old  Polish 
animosity  to  the  Dissidents.  Their  patriotic  efforts 
proved  a  failure,  and  an  attempt  to  carry  off  the  king, 
perhaps  assassinate  him,  on  Nov.  3,  1771,  headed  by 
Lukawski,  Strawenski,  and  Kosinski,  who  had  been 
suborned  for  the  purpose  by  Casimir  Pulawski  also 
failed.  The  details  of  this  attempt  are  so  strange, 
that  perhaps  they  will  be  found  interesting  by  our 
readers.  The  heart  and  soul  of  the  plot  was  the 
Confederate  Casimir  Pulawski,  and  indeed  the  Con- 
federates had  never  recognised  the  government  of 
Stanislaus,  probably  from  the  contempt  they  felt  for 
the  weakness  of  his  character.  The  conspirators,  who 
carried  it  into  execution,  were  about  forty  in  number, 
but  the  men  previously  mentioned,  were  at  the  head. 
At  Czestochowa  they  took  an  oath  to  Pulawski, 
either  to  deliver  the  king  alive  into  his  hands,  or  in 
case  that  was  impossible,  to  put  him  to  death.  The 
three  ringleaders  and  their  assistants  obtained  admis- 
sion into  Warsaw  disguised  as  peasants,  who  had  come 
to  sell  hay,  and  concealed  their  arms  under  the  loads 
which  they  brought  in  their  waggons. 

On  Sunday  night,  the  3rd  of  September,  1771,  a 
few  of  these  conspirators  remained  in  the  suburbs  of 
the  town,  and  the   others   repaired  to  the  place  of 


PLOT  AGAINST   THE  KING.  217 

meeting,  the  street  of  the  Capuchins,  where  the  king 
was  expected  to  pass  about  the  hour  in  which  he 
usually  returned  to  the  palace.  He  came  on  this 
occasion  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock  in  a  carriage 
with  an  aide-de-camp,  and  accompanied  by  fifteen  or 
sixteen  attendants.  He  was  attacked  by  the  con- 
spirators, who  commanded  the  coachman  to  stop  on 
pain  of  instant  death.  They  fired  several  shots  into 
the  carriage,  one  of  which  passed  through  the  body 
of  a  heyduc,  or  attendant,  who  endeavoured  to  defend 
his  master  from  his  assailants.  Almost  all  the  other 
persons  who  accompanied  the  king  fled  ;  the  aide-de- 
camp contrived  to  conceal  himself  Meanwhile  the 
king  opened  the  door  of  his  carriage,  trusting  to 
escape  in  the  dark.  But  he  was  seized  by  the  con- 
spirators, one  of  whom  discharged  a  pistol  at  him, 
and  another  cut  him  across  the  head  with  his  sabre. 
They  then  laid  hold  of  Stanislaus  by  the  collar,  and, 
mounting  on  horseback,  dragged  him  along  the 
ground  between  their  horses  at  full  gallop  for  nearly 
five  hundred  paces  through  the  streets  of  Warsaw. 
Meantime  all  was  confusion  at  the  palace,  where  the 
attendants  who  had  deserted  their  master  had  spread 
the  alarm.  The  guards  ran  immediately  to  the  spot, 
but  only  found  the  king's  hat  and  travelling  bag 
covered  with  blood.  Meanwhile  the  conspirators 
were  carrying  off  their  prize,  whom  they  set  on  horse- 
back as  he  could  not  follow  them  on  foot,  and  then 
redoubled  their  speed  for  fear  of  being  overtaken. 
When  they  had  crossed  the  ditch  of  the  city  of 
Warsaw  many  of  the  confederates  retired,  probably 
to  notify  the  success  of  their  enterprise  and  the  king's 


2l8  STANISLAUS   PONTATOWSKI. 

arrival  as  their  prisoner.  Only  seven  remained  with 
him,  of  whom  Kosinski  was  the  chief.  The  night 
was  very  dark  ;  they  were  ignorant  of  the  way,  and 
as  the  horses  could  not  keep  their  legs  they  obliged 
his  Majesty  to  follow  them  on  foot  with  only  one 
shoe,  the  other  having  been  lost  in  the  mud.  They 
continued  to  wander  through  the  open  fields,  without 
following  any  certain  path,  and  without  getting  any 
distance  from  Warsaw.  They  again  mounted  the 
king  on  horseback,  one  of  them  holding  him  on  each 
side  by  the  hand,  and  a  third  leading  his  horse  by  the 
bridle.  They  at  last  found  themselves  in  the  wood 
of  Bielany,  only  a  league  distant  from  Warsaw.  From 
the  time  when  they  had  passed  the  ditch  they  fre- 
quently demanded  of  Kosinski,  their  chief,  if  it  was 
not  yet  time  to  put  the  king  to  death. 

Meanwhile  some  of  the  nobility  following  the  track 
of  the  conspirators  arrived  at  the  place  where  Stanis- 
laus had  passed  the  ditch.  There  they  found  his 
blood-stained  overcoat,  and  concluded  that  he  had 
been  killed.  The  number  of  conspirators  with  the 
king  now  began  to  diminish  ;  on  coming  upon  a 
Russian  patrol  four  of  them  disappeared,  leaving  him 
with  the  other  three,  who  compelled  him  to  walk  with 
them.  A  quarter  of  an  hour  afterwards  they  were 
challenged  by  another  Russian  guard.  Two  of  the 
conspirators  then  fled,  and  the  king  remained  alone 
with  Kosinski,  both  on  foot.  Stanislaus,  exhausted 
with  fatigue,  entreated  his  conductor  to  stop  for  a 
few  moments,  but  Kosinski  refused,  and  told  him 
that  beyond  the  wood  they  would  find  a  carriage. 
They  continued  their  walk  till  they  came  to  the  con- 


PERILS   OF   STANISLAUS.  319 

vent  of  Bielany.  Here  the  king,  perceiving  that 
Kosinski  was  lost  in  thought,  and  wandered  about 
ignorant  of  the  road,  said  to  him  :  **  I  see  you  do  not 
know  your  way.  Let  me  go  into  the  convent,  and  do 
you  provide  for  your  own  safety.'*  "  No,"  reph'ed 
Kosinski,  *'  I  have  sworn."  They  proceeded  till  they 
came  to  Mariemont,  a  small  palace,  not  more  than 
half  a  league  from  Warsaw.  Here,  at  the  king's 
renewed  request,  his  captor  allowed  a  pause.  They 
sat  down  upon  the  ground,  and  the  king  employed 
the  time  in  endeavouring  to  move  the  pity  of 
Kosinski,  and  to  induce  him  to  permit  his  escape. 
Kosinski  began  to  show  signs  of  repentance.  "  But," 
said  he,  "  if  I  should  consent  and  re-conduct  you  to 
Warsaw,  what  will  be  the  consequence  ?  I  shall  be 
taken  and  executed."  "  I  give  you  my  word," 
answered  the  king,  "  that  you  shall  suffer  no  harm  ; 
but  if  you  doubt  my  promise  escape  while  there  is 
yet  time.  I  can  find  my  way  to  some  place  of 
security,  and  I  will  certainly  direct  your  pursuers  to 
take  the  contrary  road  to  that  which  you  have 
chosen."  Kosinski  was  moved  by  the  generosity  of 
the  king,  and  swore  to  protect  him  against  any 
enemy,  relying  entirely  on  his  generosity  for  pardon 
and  security.  They  now  made  for  a  mill  which  was 
close  by.  Kosinski  knocked,  but  no  answer  was 
given.  The  mill  is  described  in  a  contemporary 
account  as  a  wretched  hovel,  at  a  distance  from  any 
house.  At  last  he  broke  a  pane  of  glass  and 
entreated  shelter  for  a  nobleman  who  had  been  plun- 
dered by  robbers.  The  miller  refused,  believing  them 
to  be  banditti.     But  at  length  the  king  pleading  also, 


220  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKT. 

they  were  admitted.  When  he  had  entered  he  at 
once  wrote  a  note  to  General  Coccei,  colonel  of  the 
foot  guards.  It  was  verbati7n  as  follows  :*' Prt-r  une 
espece  de  miracle  je  siiis  sauv/  des  mains  des  assassins. 
Je  suis  ici  an  petit  moulin  de  Mariemont.  Venez  an 
plutot  me  tirer  dici.  Je  suis  blesse,  mais  pas  fort.'* 
It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  however,  that  the 
king  could  persuade  any  one  to  carry  this  note  to 
Warsaw,  as  the  people  of  the  mill,  imagining  that  he 
was  a  nobleman  who  had  just  been  plundered  by 
robbers,  were  afraid  of  falling  in  with  the  band. 

On  receiving  the  note  Coccei  instantly  rode  to  the 
mill,  followed  by  a  detachment  of  the  guards.  He 
met  Kosinski  at  the  door  with  his  sabre  drawn,  who 
admitted  him  as  soon  as  he  knew  him.  The  king, 
overcome  with  fatigue,  was  sleeping  on  the  ground, 
covered  with  the  miller's  cloak.  Great  was  the 
astonishment  of  the  miller  and  his  family  on  finding 
out  who  the  guest  was  to  whom  they  had  given 
shelter.  The  king  returned  to  Warsaw  in  General 
Coccei's  carriage,  and  reached  the  palace  about  five 
in  the  morning.  His  wound  proved  not  dangerous, 
and  he  soon  recovered  from  the  rough  treatment  to 
which  he  had  been  subjected. 

Lukawski  and  Strawenski  were  after  a  trial  decapi- 
tated ;  according  to  a  contemporary  account  they 
showed  the  greatest  fortitude.  The  former  resolutely 
refused  to  see  the  traitor  Kosinski  ;  on  the  scaffold 
he  made  a  short  speech  to  the  multitude,  but  ex- 
pressed no  contrition  whatever,  nor  did  Strawenski. 
They  probably  considered  that  in  carrying  off  the 
pusillanimous    Stanislaus    they   were    serving    their 


COUNT   BENIOWSKI.  221 

country,  and  in  Poland  there  was  little  of  the  divinity 
that  "  doth  hed^e  a  king."  Kosinski  was  sent  by 
Stanislaus  out  of  Poland,  and  spent  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  Semigallia,  in  Courland,  enjoying  a  pension. 
To  the  heyduc,  who  saved  the  king's  life,  a  monument 
was  erected.  Such  was  the  end  of  this  strange  con- 
spiracy, but  the  fates  were  preserving  Stanislaus  for 
even  greater  indignities — to  survive  as  a  pensioner 
the  loss  of  his  crown,  and  the  annihilation  of  the 
independence  of  his  country.  It  is  impossible,  how- 
ever, to  justify  the  confederates  in  the  matter,  although 
we  may  sympathise  with  them  in  their  patriotic 
struggles.  They  have  to  the  present  day  remained 
the  favourite  subjects  of  Polish  eulogy.  The  subse- 
quent fate  of  many  of  them  was  severe,  as  a  large 
number  of  them  spent  the  rest  of  their  days  in 
Siberia,  or  were  interned  in  the  eastern  provinces  of 
Russia.  Some  of  them  seemed  to  have  assisted 
the  robber  chief  Pugachev  in  his  insurrection. 

One  of  them  was  the  strange  adventurer,  Count 
Beniowski,  the  story  of  whose  life  has  been  drama- 
tised by  Kotzebue,  and  forms  the  subject  of  a  long 
poem  by  Slowacki.  Although  bearing  a  Slavonic 
name,  Beniowski  was  born  in  Hungary.  He  joined 
the  ranks  of  the  confederates  at  an  early  stage, 
and  was  present  in  some  actions.  Being  taken  pri- 
soner by  the  Russians,  he  was  sent  to  Siberia  ;  the 
Governor  of  Kamchatka,  named  Khilov,  appears  to 
have  treated  him  with  much  kindness,  and  in  order 
to  have  the  means  of  lightening  his  captivity 
engaged  him  to  teach  French  and  German  to  his 
children.       Beniowski    abused    this    generosity    by 


'l^Z  STANISLAUS  POMlAfOWSfCI. 

winning  the  affections  of  the  daughter  of  the  governor 
named  Afanasia,  although  he  already  had  a  wife. 
By  her  connivance  he  effected  his  escape  with  a  large 
number  of  his  companions.  His  subsequent  adven- 
tures can  only  be  briefly  described.  He  succeeded 
in  reaching  the  island  of  Formosa,  and  afterwards 
Macao,  where  the  too  confiding  Afanasia  died. 
Thence  he  proceeded  to  France,  where  he  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Government,  to  which  he  furnished 
some  valuable  information  about  Siberian  matters. 
The  French  sent  him  with  some  adventurers  to  form 
a  colony  in  the  island  of  Madagascar,  but  the  scheme 
was  only  partially  successful.  In  1783  he  returned 
to  France,  and  thence  went  to  England  and  America, 
and  afterwards  again  visited  the  island  of  Madagas- 
car, perhaps  in  the  pay  of  the  English  ;  at  all  events, 
we  find  him  fighting  against  the  French,  and  in  a 
skirmish  with  them  he  was  killed  in  that  island  in  the 
year  1785. 

Casimir  Pulawski  left  Poland  after  the  attempt  on 
the  king  and  went  to  America,  where  he  joined  the 
forces  of  the  colonies  against  England,  and  was 
killed  at  the  siege  of  Savannah. 

The  year  1772  was  to  witness  the  first  dismember- 
ment of  Poland,  which  had  been  agreed  upon  between 
Russia,  Prussia,  and  Austria.  The  idea  is  said  to  have 
originated  with  Frederick  the  Great,  whose  brother. 
Prince  Henry,  when  he  visited  St.  Petersburg,  sounded 
Catherine  on  the  subject.  Prussia  was  eager  to 
acquire  the  towns  of  Thorn  and  Danzig,  and  the 
lower  basin  of  the  Vistula,  and  the  treatment  of  the 
Dissidents  by  the  Poles  had  given  an  opportunity  for 


I 


FTRST   DISMEMBERMENT.  223 

interference.  By  the  first  dismemberment  Prussia 
took  the  palatinates  of  Marienburg,  the  Pomorze,  or 
district  adjoining  the  sea,  and  Warmia  (except  Dan- 
zig and  Thorn),  and  a  part  of  Great  Poland.  Austria 
had  Red  Russia,  or  Galicia,  with  parts  of  Podolia  and 
Little  Poland,  and  Russia  the  palatinates  of  Mscislaw 
and  Witepsk,  with  some  other  parts  of  palatinates 
situated  on  the  Dnieper. 

In  1773  a  kind  of  constitution  was  drawn  up  for 
the  Republic,  but  the  mischievous  libermn  veto  was 
preserved  in  all  its  force,  and  in  the  following  year 
the  privileges  which  had  been  granted  to  the  Dissi- 
dents since  1768  were  diminished. 

It  was  in  the  year  1778  that  Coxe,  the  historian, 
visited  the  country,  of  which  he  has  left  such  a 
graphic  description.  It  is  from  his  interesting  narra- 
tive that  we  are  able  to  gain  a  picture  of  the  Poland 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  Poles,  in  a  diet  held 
at  Grodno  in  1778,  were  obliged  to  acquiesce  in  this 
plundering  of  their  country.  A  period  of  some  years 
of  comparative  tranquillity  now  supervened.  A  better 
system  of  education  was  introduced,  and  the  order  of 
Jesuits  was  suppressed.  In  1788  a  remarkable  diet 
was  opened  which  lasted  for  the  unprecedented  period 
of  foi:r  years.  The  condition  of  the  burghers  and 
peasants  was  ameliorated  ;  the  libermn  veto  was  defi- 
nitely suppressed  and  the  throne  declared  hereditary. 
The  Elector  of  Saxony,  son  of  Augustus  III.,  was 
appointed  the  successor  of  Stanislaus.  The  Roman 
Catholic  was  declared  to  be  the  dominant  religion, 
but  the  Dissidents  were  to  be  tolerated.  The 
burghers  were   to  send   deputies  to  the  diet  on  the 


224  STANISLAUS  PONIATOWSKL 

same  footing  as  the  nobles.  This  was  a  privilege 
which  had  never  been  conceded  before,  and  the 
absence  of  it  was  one  of  the  chief  causes  why  politi- 
cal life  was  so  dwarfed  in  the  country.  The  peasants 
^vere  not  yet  emancipated,  but  their  condition  was 
improved.  In  order  to  explain  more  fully  the  new 
constitution  which  was  promulgated,  we  shall 
shortly  give  a  summary  of  its  leading  enactments. 
Many  writers  have  told  of  the  universal  enthusiasm 
when  the  Bill  was  passed,  and  the  procession  of  King 
Stanislaus  and  the  members  of  the  parliament  to  the 
cathedral  of  Cracow  has  formed  the  subject  of  a 
splendid  picture  by  the  celebrated  artist  Matejko. 
The  party  of  reform  was  led  by  Ignatius  Potocki,  a 
priest  named  Kollg.taj,  and  the  Czartoryskis.  But 
adverse  elements  were  at  work.  There  were  many 
malcontents  among  the  nobles,  who  did  not  like  the 
curtailment  of  their  privileges.  The  chief  of  these 
was  Szcz^sny  (Felix)  Potocki,  who  together  with 
Francis  Branicki  and  Severin  Rzewuski  formed  in 
1792  the  confederation  of  Targowica,  in  the  palatinate 
of  Braclaw,  near  Human,  and  at  their  instigation 
fresh  bodies  of  Russian  troops  invaded  Poland. 
The  feeble  king  made  no  resistance  ;  he  signed  the 
convention  of  Targowica,  and  the  Russians  entered 
Warsaw.  Stanislaus  was  now  reduced  to  a  mere 
cypher,  and  the  country  was  governed  by  the  conven- 
tion ;  which  appointed  a  supreme  court  at  Br/esc, 
called  the  generality,  under  the  presidency  of  Felix 
Potocki.  And  yet  such  vigorous  measures  had  been 
adopted  by  the  celebrated  Four  Years  Diet  {Seym 
czteroletni)  as  it  has  been  called,  that  Poland  seemed 


PONINSKI,  225 

almost  to  have  received  the  eh'xir  of  a  new  hfe. 
Some  Polish  authors,  however,  of  modern  times,  and 
among  these  especially  Kalinka,  are  inclined  to  think 
that  the  country  was  in  a  state  too  deeply  demoralised 
and  gangrened  to  admit  of  a  cure. 

We  are  familiar  with  the  immunity  which  aristo- 
cratic criminals  had  enjoyed  in  the  Republic,  but  a 
change  was  to  be  brought  about  during  this  diet, 
which  ought  to  have  had  salutary  effects  upon  the  state. 
In  August,  of  the  year  1790,  Prince  Poninski,  grand 
treasurer  of  the  Crown,  received  the  punishment  of  his 
treasons.  He  was  unfortunately  a  type  of  too  many 
of  the  Polish  nobles.  On  the  8th  of  June,  1789,  an 
accusation  was  brought  against  him  by  Zaleski,  the 
deputy  from  Troki,  in  Lithuania,  for  high  crimes  and 
misdemeanours,  in  having  at  that  period  betrayed, 
from  views  of  personal  advantage,  the  interests  of  the 
state.  The  commission  chosen  to  try  him  consisted 
of  fourteen  senators  and  twenty  four  deputies.  To 
prevent  partiality,  the  names  were  chosen  by  ballot,  and 
although  they  were  not  those  of  persons  very  favour- 
able to  the  prisoner,  he  found  means  to  escape,  as  so 
many  noble  criminals  had  done  at  earlier  stages  of  the 
history  of  the  country.  He  was,  however,  retaken, 
but  for  all  that  was  not  punished.  While  the  diet  sat 
(lOth  of  August,  1790),  the  charge  against  Poninski 
was  suddenly  revived,  and  many  strong  opinions  were 
uttered  on  the  subject.  The  grand  treasurer,  seeing 
what  the  result  was  likely  to  be,  made  a  second 
attempt  to  escape.  Although  he  had  been  released  on 
bail  and  had  given  his  word  to  remain,  he  left  Warsaw 
secretly  on   Sunday,  the  29th,  but  unfortunately  for 

16 


226  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKI. 

him  he  was  met  on  the  road  by  the  same  captain  who 
had  secured  him  on  his  first  escape.  This  officer 
found  him  fifty  leagues  from  Warsaw,  and  brought 
him  back.  On  the  ist  of  September,  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  diet,  he  was  declared  a  traitor  to  his 
country,  sentenced  to  lose  his  rank,  honours,  and  em- 
ployments ;  he  was  ordered  to  leave  Warsaw  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  the  country  in  four  weeks  ;  after  which 
time,  if  he  were  found  in  the  territories  of  the  Repub- 
Hc,  he  was  to  be  put  to  death. 

Prince  Poninski  heard  the  judgment  uttered  at  the 
bar  of  the  house,  and  was  obliged  to  undergo  the 
mortification  of  having  his  sentence  published  in 
front  of  the  town  hall,  where  the  insignia  of  his 
order  was  torn  off,  and  whence  he  was  led  through 
the  principal  streets,  accompanied  by  the  common 
crier,  who  proclaimed,  "  It  is  thus  that  we  punish 
traitors  to  their  country." 

On  the  30th  of  August,  an  Act  called  the  Univer- 
sal, was  passed  in  the  hall  of  the  diet.  In  this  docu- 
ment mention  was  made  for  the  first  time  of  the 
succession  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  the  son  of  Augus- 
tus, to  the  throne  of  Poland. 

When  this  project  had  obtained  the  consent  of  the 
diet,  the  king  made  a  speech  to  the  effect  that  he 
would  not  bring  forward  such  a  proposal  unless  he 
knew  that  it  was  agreeable  to  the  whole  nation,  and 
to  ascertain  this,  it  was  necessary  that  the  provincial 
diets  {sejmiki)  should  be  convoked.  Hereupon,  many 
members  present  offered  their  assistance  in  carrying 
I  his  measure,  but  wished  that  the  king's  own  nephew 
should  be  chosen.     To  this,  however,  Stanislaus  could 


THE   NEW   GOVERNMENT.  22J 

not  agree.  He  considered,  as  he  said,  that  the  Elec- 
tor of  Saxony  might  greatly  contribute  to  the  dignity, 
power,  and  advantage  of  the  Republic.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  resokition  of  the  king,  all  the  provin- 
cial assemblies,  except  that  of  Volhynia,  demanded 
the  Elector  of  Saxony  as  successor  to  the  throne,  and 
though  this  latter  sejmik  was  less  positive  than  the 
others  in  its  declarations,  yet  every  testimony  was 
given  of  its  esteem  for  the  person  and  qualities  of  the 
Elector.  In  \\\q  pacta  conveitta  it  was  stipulated  that 
no  successor  to  the  throne  should  be  named  during 
the  life  of  the  reigning  king.  The  first  and  most  im- 
portant step  in  opposition  to  this  enactment  was  not 
made  by  the  king,  but  by  the  nation.  Stanislaus 
nobly  discarded  his  own  relations,  and  only  looked  to 
the  welfare  of  the  state.  The  country  was  led  to  this 
infringement  of  its  ancient  law  from  a  general  con- 
viction that  every  interregnum  caused  a  civil  war,  and 
frequently  led  to  a  foreign  war. 

In  the  beginning  of  1791,  several  meetings  were 
held  respecting  a  reform  in  the  constitution  of  Poland. 
On  the  3rd  of  May  of  that  year,  a  number  of  patriots, 
who  had  preconcerted  the  great  objects  which  they 
meant  to  accomplish  in  the  sitting  of  the  diet  that 
day,  assembled  in  the  king's  chamber.  There,  in  the 
presence  of  the  sovereign,  they  engaged  to  carry  out 
their  resolutions,  and  they  pledged  themselves  by  a 
solenrm  engagement.  The  assembly  was  opened  at 
the  usual  hour  The  galleries  were  crowded  with 
spectators,  and  the  house  was  surrounded  by  thou- 
sands who  could  not  gain  admission.  Instead  of 
the  marshals,  the   king  himself  opened  the  session. 


228  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKt. 

He  spoke  to  the  effect  that,  notwithstanding  all 
assurances  to  the  contrary,  there  was  an  alarming 
rumour  that  the  three  neighbouring  powers  would 
terminate  their  jealousies  at  the  expense  of  the  terri- 
tories of  the  Republic  ;  that  the  only  method  of  pre- 
serving Poland  was  to  establish  such  a  constitution  as 
would  secure  its  independence  ;  that  with  this  view, 
there  had  been  prepared  a  plan  of  a  constitution, 
founded  principally  on  those  of  England  and  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  adapted  as  much  as 
possible  to  the  particular  circumstances  of  the  coun- 
try. In  support  of  the  information  relative  to  foreign 
powers,  the  king  communicated  to  the  diet  some  des- 
patches received  from  the  ministers  of  the  Republic 
at  foreign  courts,  stating  how  eager  those  powers  were 
to  oppose  all  settlement  of  the  constitution,  and  that 
everything  seemed  to  announce  their  hostile  designs 
on  Poland.  The  king  desired  that  the  plan  which  he 
submitted  to  them  might  be  read,  and  an  important 
debate  upon  it  took  place.  One  person  only  opposed 
it,  and  was  allowed  to  have  perfect  freedom  in  the 
utterance  of  his  opinion.  The  king  would  not  swear 
to  the  new  form  of  government  till  he  had  been  re- 
leased from  the  pacta  conventa  which  the  members  of 
the  diet  at  once  agreed  to  do.  All  the  representatives 
of  the  palatinates  of  Volhynia  and  Podolia  declared 
themselves  against  the  new  constitution.  These  were 
the  fruits  of  the  baneful  confederation  of  Targowica, 
planned  by  the  traitors  to  their  country.  One  of  the 
chief  opponents  was  Suchorzewski,  who  resisted  the 
plan  that  the  crown  should  be  made  hereditary.  He 
advanced  from  his  seat  and  threw  himself  at  the  foot 


ZABIELLO.  22g 

of  the  throne.  We  must  remember  that  theatrical 
gestures  were  in  vogue  at  the  time,  as  when  Burke 
threw  the  dagger  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. He  suppHcated  the  king  to  renounce  the  idea 
of  hereditary  succession,  which  he  declared  would 
be  fatal  to  the  liberty  of  Poland.  Others  who 
supported  him  alleged  the  instructions  of  their  pala- 
tinates, which  prevented  them  from  supporting  the 
measure.  They  urged  that  at  least  the  proposal 
should  be  taken  ad  deliberandum  as  every  other  new 
law  was  taken  ;  but  a  great  number  of  voices  dis- 
agreed with  this.  "  We  must  pass  the  whole  measure 
this  day  ;  we  will  not  depart  from  this  place  till  the 
whole  work  is  accomplished."  To  this  the  opposition 
replied,  "  We  will  not  depart  until  it  is  abandoned." 
We  see  by  these  struggles  what  perverse  elements  the 
Republic  contained,  and  are  again  reminded  of  the 
French  noblesse  at  the  Revolution.  The  uncontrolled 
license  which  they  enjoyed  might  well  be  character- 
ised in  the  wise  words  of  Stanislaus  Leszczynski, 
Siimma  libertas  etiain  perire  volentibus. 

The  king  listened  in  silence  ;  at  length  Zabiello, 
the  deputy  of  Livonia,  entreated  the  speaker  no 
longer  to  oppose  the  wishes  of  the  majority,  which 
exceeded  the  opposition  in  the  proportion  of  at  least 
ten  to  one  ;  at  the  same  time  nearly  all  the  senators 
and  deputies  quitting  their  seats,  filled  the  middle  of 
the  hall,  and  surrounding  the  throne  demanded  with 
loud  voices  that  the  king  should  take  the  oath  to 
the  ne>y  constitution.  Stanislaus  then  called  to  him 
the  Bishop  of  Cracow,  and  took  the  oath  at  his 
hands  ;  and  the  better  to  be  seen  and  heard  by  the 


230 


STANISLAUS    PONIATOWSKI. 


assembly  he  mounted  on  the  seat  and  swore  aloud. 
A  great  majority  in  the  diet  held  up  their  right  hands 
and  followed  his  example.  The  diet  had  previously 
bound  itself  to  decide  all  questions  by  a  plurality  oi 
votes.  Much  as  Stanislaus  was  blameworthy  in 
other  matters  in  his  career,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
on  this  occasion  he  acted  with  true  patriotism  and 
dignity. 

The  king  then  proposed  that  they  should  all  go  to 
the  cathedral  and  repeat  the  oath  before  God  at  the 
altar.     All  the  bishops,  all  the  senators,  with  a  great 


COIN   OF   STANISLAUS    AUGUSTUS. 


number  of  the  deputies,  accompanied  the  king  to 
the  cathedral,  and  there  again  solemnly  engaged 
before  God  and  their  country  to  maintain  the  new 
government.  It  was  by  this  time  seven  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  A  Te  Deum  was  sung,  and  the  new 
constitution  was  announced  to  the  people  by  the 
discharge  of  two  hundred  cannon.  There  were  only 
about  thirty  or  forty  deputies  who  did  not  follow  the 
king  to  the  cathedral.  The  diet  was  now  adjourned 
to  the  5th  of  May.  The  opposing  deputies,  seeing 
that  all  resistance  was  useless,  resolved  to  protest 
against  the  new  constitution  by  the  publication  of  a 


NEW   CONSTITUTION.  23 1 

manifesto,  after  which  they  quietly  retired  to  their 
houses. 

A  great  event  had,* indeed,  taken  place  on  this 
important  day  in  the  annals  of  the  unfortunate 
country.  The  Poles  felt  that  things  must  be 
mended,  and  we  must  always  give  them  credit  for 
the  self-sacrifice  which  they  showed  on  this  occasion. 
It  was,  indeed,  a  splendid  victory  c-ver  prejudices, 
but  the  remedy  came  too  late.  It  is  said  that  on  the 
eve  of  this  memorable  day  the  minister  of  one  of  the 
foreign  powers  had  endeavoured,  by  distributing  fifty 
thousand  ducats  in  bribes,  to  prevent  the  enactment 
of  the  new  constitution,  which,  if  faithfully  adhered 
to,  might  yet  have  saved  Poland,  mutilated  as  she 
already  was.  On  the  4th  of  the  same  month 
eighteen  deputies  published  their  manifesto  against 
the  proceedings  of  the  day  before,  and  the  deputy, 
Suchorzewski,  sent  back  to  the  king  a  decoration 
which  he  had  once  received  from  him. 

In  the  sitting  of  the  5th  of  May  the  new  form  of 
constitution  was  again  proposed,  and  signed  unani- 
mously by  the  members  present.  We  give  here  a 
short  summary  of  the  chief  articles  of  this  important 
document. 

New  Constitution  of  Poland  as  established  May  3, 
1791  :  — 

1.  The  Roman  Catholic  was  to  be  the  dominant 
religion,  but  freedom  was  assured  to  all  other  forms 
of  faith. 

2.  All  prerogatives  granted  by  Casimir  the  Great 
in  the  statutes  of  Wislica  and  elsewhere  were  re- 
newed,  confirmed,   and   declared    to   be    inviolable. 


232  STANISLAUS   PONTATOWSICL 

The  article  then  goes  on  to  say  :  "  We  acknowledge 
the  rank  of  the  noble  equestrian  order  in  Poland  to 
be  equal  to  all  degrees  of  nobility  ;  all  persons  of 
that  order  to  be  equal  among  themselves,  not  only  in 
the  eligibility  to  all  posts  of  honour,  trust,  or  emolu- 
ment, but  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  privileges  and 
prerogatives,  personal  liberty,  and  security  of  im- 
movable and  movable  property  :  nor  shall  we  suffer 
the  least  encroachment  on  either  by  the  supreme 
national  power,  on  which  the  present  form  of  govern- 
ment is  established,  under  any  pretext  whatsoever  ; 
consequently  we  regard  the  preservation  of  personal 
security  and  property  as  by  law  ascertained  to  be  a 
tie  of  society,  and  the  very  essence  of  civil  liberty, 
which  ought  to  be  considered  and  respected  for 
ever." 

A  great  deal  of  the  phraseology  here  is  in  the 
style  of  constitution  writing  which  was  in  vogue 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  including,  among  other 
things,  general  reflections  upon  the  rights  of  man. 
There  is  something  vague  about  this  article,  and  it 
is  difficult  to  see  how,  if  the  nobles  were  to  be 
guaranteed  in  all  their  privileges,  the  important 
fourth  article  on  the  new  position  of  the  villages 
could  be  fully  carried  out. 

3.  The  law  made  by  the  diet  then  sitting  with 
respect  to  the  burghers,  giving  them  the  right  of 
representation,  was  to  be  carried  out. 

4.  The  important  article  on  the  condition  of  the 
peasants  shall  be  here  quoted  in  full :  "  The  agricul- 
tural class,  the  most  numerous  in  the  nation,  conse- 
quently forming  the  most  considerable  part  of  its  force, 


THE   PEASANTRY.  233 

we  receive  under  the  protection  of  national  law  and 
government,  enacting  that,  whatever  liberties,  grants, 
and  conventions  between  the  proprietors  and  villagers, 
either  individually  or  collectively,  may  be  entered 
into  authentically  in  future,  such  agreements  shall 
import  mutual  and  reciprocal  obligations,  binding  not 
only  the  present  contracting  parties,  but  even  their 
successors  by  inheritance  or  acquisition.  Thus, 
having  secured  to  the  proprietors  every  advantage  to 
which  they  have  a  right  from  their  villagers  ( !),  and 
willing  to  encourage  most  effectually  the  population 
of  our  country,  zve  publisJi  and  proclaim  a  perfect  and 
entire  liberty  to  all  people,  either  who  may  be  newly 
coming  to  settle,  or  those  who,  having  emigrated, 
would  return  to  their  native  country,  and  we  declare 
most  solemnly  that  any  person  coming  into  Poland 
from  whatever  part  of  the  world,  or  returning  from 
abroad,  as  soon  as  he  sets  his  foot  on  the  territory  of 
the  Republic  becomes  free,  and  at  liberty  to  exercise 
his  industry,  wherever  and  in  whatever  manner  he 
pleases,  to  settle  either  in  towns  or  villages,  to  farm 
and  rent  lands  and  houses,  on  tenure  and  contracts, 
for  as  long  a  term  as  may  be  agreed  on  ;  with  liberty 
to  remain  or  to  remove,  after  having  fulfilled  the 
obligations  he  may  have  voluntarily  entered  into.'*' 

This  article  is  surely  somewhat  vague  ;  as  no 
peasants  could  possibly  leave  their  masters'  estates 
without  leave,  the  expression  about  every  man  being 
free  as  soon  as  he  returns  and  sets  foot  upon  Polish 
territory,  reads  like  a  piece  of  clap-trap,  borrowed 
from  foreign  legislation. 

5.  Form  of  government.     All  power  to  be  derived 


234  STANISLAUS    PONIATOWSKI. 

from  the  will  of  the  people.     Three  distinct  powers 
to  compose  the  government  of  the  Polish  nation  : 

a.  Legislative  power  in  the  states  assembled. 

b.  Executive  power  in  the  king  and  council. 

c.  Judicial  power  in  jurisdictions  existing  or  to  be 
established. 

6.  The  diet  or  the  legislative  power.  The  diet  shall 
be  divided  into  two  houses  :  the  house  of  deputies  and 
the  senate,  where  the  king  is  to  preside.  The  former 
being  the  representative  and  central  point  of  supreme 
authority,  shall  possess  the  pre-eminence  in  the  legis- 
lature ;  therefore  all  bills  were  to  be  decided  first  in 
this  house,  both  general  laws  affecting  constitutional, 
civil,  and  criminal  matters,  and  the  right  of  taxation, 
and  also  particular  laws,  questions  of  peace  and  war, 
ratification  of  treaties,  and  other  matters.  The  king 
was  to  issue  his  proposals  by  means  of  the  circular 
letters  sent  before  the  sejmiki  (petty  diets)  to  every 
palatinate  for  deliberation,  and  these  would  come 
before  the  house  by  means  of  the  posly  or  deputies. 
The  latter  were  to  have  precedence  of  all  private  bills. 

The  senate  was  to  consist  of  bishops,  palatines, 
castellans,  and  ministers,  under  the  presidency  of  the 
king,  who  was  to  have  but  one  vote,  and  the  casting 
vote  in  case  they  were  equal,  which  he  might  give 
either  personally  or  by  a  message  sent  to  the  house. 
Every  general  law  that  passed  formally  through  the 
house  of  deputies  was  to  be  sent  immediately  to  the 
senate,  and  was  to  be  either  accepted  or  suspended 
till  further  public  deliberation.  If  accepted,  it 
became  a  law  in  all  its  force  ;  if  suspended,  it  was  to 
be   resumed    at   the  next  diet  ;  and,  if  it  was   then 


THE   DIETS.  235 

again  passed  by  the  house  of  deputies,  the  senate 
must  also  pass  it.  In  the  case  of  a  particular  law,  as 
soon  as  it  was  passed  by  the  house  of  deputies,  and 
sent  up  to  the  senate,  the  votes  of  both  houses  were 
to  be  taken  together,  and  the  majority,  if  in  its 
favour,  should  be  taken  to  constitute  the  law  a  de- 
cree, and  to  express  the  will  of  the  nation  in  the 
matter.  Those  senators  and  ministers  who,  from  their 
share  in  the  executive  power,  were  accountable  to  the 
Republic,  were  not  to  have  an  active  voice  in  the 
diet,  but  might  be  present  in  order  to  give  necessary 
explanations. 

The  diets  were  to  be  summoned  every  two  years, 
and  the  length  of  session  should  be  determined  by 
the  law  concerning  diets.  These  two  last  enactments 
were  of  great  importance  :  the  first  as  recognising 
the  responsibility  of  the  public  officers,  who  had  dis- 
played in  Poland  on  many  occasions  great  political 
corruption,  and,  secondly,  as  effecting  the  annihilation 
of  the  liberurn  veto,  which  was  further  emphasised  by 
the  clause — the  majority  of  votes  shall  decide  every- 
thing and  everywhere.  An  extraordinary  diet  was 
to  be  held  every  twenty-five  years  for  the  revision 
of  the  constitution,  and  such  alterations  as  might  be 
required. 

7.  Having  secured  to  the  Polish  nation  the  right  of 
enacting  laws  for  themselves,  the  constitution  now 
proceeded  to  entrust  to  the  king  and  his  council  the 
highest  power  of  executing  the  laws.  This  council  was 
to  be  called  Straz.  The  duty  of  the  executive  power 
was  to  see  the  laws  properly  carried  out ;  it  could  not 
make  laws,  nor  interpret  them.     It  was  forbidden  to 


236  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKI. 

contract  public  debts  ;  to  declare  war,  to  conclude 
a  treaty  or  any  diplomatic  act ;  it  was  only  allowed  to 
carry  on  negotiations  with  foreign  courts^-and  facili- 
tate temporary  arrangements,  always  with  reference 
to  the  diet.  The  Crown  of  Poland  was  declared  here- 
ditary. The  dynasty  of  the  future  king  was  to  begin 
in  the  person  of  Frederick  Augustus,  Elector  of 
Saxony,  with  the  right  of  inheritance  to  the  crown  to 
his  male  descendants.  The  eldest  son  of  the  reigning 
king  was  to  succeed  his  father.  To  the  nation  was 
reserved  the  right  of  electing  to  the  throne  any 
other  house  or  family  after  the  extinction  of  the 
first. 

The  king's  person  was  to  be  sacred  and  inviolable  ; 
as  no  act  could  proceed  immediately  from  him,  he 
could  not  be  in  any  manner  responsible  to  the  nation  ; 
he  was  not  an  absolute  monarch,  but  the  father  and 
head  of  the  people  ;  his  revenues,  as  fixed  by  the 
pacta  conventa,  were  to  be  rigidly  guaranteed  to  him. 
All  public  acts  and  the  coin  of  the  realm  must  bear 
his  name  ;  he  could  pardon  criminals  condemned  to 
death,  except  in  the  case  of  offences  against  the  State. 
In  the  time  of  war  he  was  to  have  the  supreme  com- 
mand of  the  national  forces.  With  the  consent  of 
the  diet  he  could  appoint  military  commanders.  He 
could  also  regulate  the  appointments  to  the  executive 
council. 

8.  Judicial  power.  It  was  declared  that  every 
citizen  ought  to  know  where  to  seek  justice,  and 
every  transgressor  where  to  discern  the  hand  of  the 
government,  a  general  statement  very  much  in 
keeping     with     the    eighteenth -century    axioms    of 


CONDUCT   OF   THE   PRUSSIANS.  237 

The  following  courts  were  therefore 
established  : — 

Primary  for  each  palatinate  and  district,  com- 
posed of  judges  chosen  at  the  sejmiky  who  were 
always  to  be  ready  to  administer  justice.  From 
these  courts  appeals  lay  to  the  high  tribunals, 
erected  one  for  each  of  the  three  provinces,  into 
which  the  kingdom  was  divided.  These  changes 
were  very  important  as  putting  an  end  to  the  local 
tyrants,  who  had  administered  justice  in  their  dis- 
tricts according  to  their  own  ideas  and  interests. 
Separate  courts  were  established  for  the  towns  ;  each 
province  was  to  have  a  court  of  referendaries  for  the 
trial  of  cases  relating  to  the  peasantry,  who  were  all 
at  the  same  time  declared  free.  Lastly,  a  committee 
was  to  be  formed  for  making  a  new  civil  and  criminal 
code  by  the  help  of  persons  whom  the  diet  should 
elect  for  the  purpose. 

We  have  given  in  justice  to  the  Poles  the  main 
features  of  this  remarkable  constitution  at  some 
length.  It  is  a  very  interesting  document,  and  the 
terms  of  it  are  not  as  well  known  as  they  should  be. 

But  how  was  this  constitution  received  by  the 
neighbouring  powers  ? 

The  King  of  Prussia  sent  a  letter  complimentary, 
but  at  the  same  time  full  of  duplicity,  congratulating 
Stanislaus  upon  the  new  constitution.  The  old 
enemy  of  the  Republic,  Frederick  the  Great,  had 
died  in  1786,  and  had  been  succeeded  by  his  nephew, 
Frederick  William  IL,  a  much  weaker  man,  who 
allowed  his  policy  to  be  directed  by  unscrupulous 
and   incompetent  ministers.     The    Russians   openly 


238  STANISLAUS  PONIATOWSKI, 

protested  against  the  constitution,  and  moved  troops 
into  Polish  territory.  The  convention  of  Targowica 
was  already  beginning  to  exercise  its  baneful  effects. 
On  June  8,  1792,  the  King  of  Prussia  wrote  again  to 
Stanislaus,  letting  it  be  seen  very  clearly  that  he  was 
prepared  to  assist  Catherine.  In  their  perplexity  the 
Poles  now  appealed  to  the  German  Emperor,  the 
weak  Francis  II.,  but  received  an  evasive  and  un- 
favourable answer.  The  enemies  of  the  Republic 
were  now  pressing  upon  the  country  from  all 
quarters,  assisted  by  the  traitors  within  her  own 
borders.  In  consequence  of  the  measures  taken  by 
the  confederates  of  Targowica,  the  king  was  obliged 
to  annul  the  new  constitution,  which  promised  so 
much  for  the  country,  and  agree  to  the  re-establish- 
ment of  that  which  had  previously  existed.  He  was 
even  obliged  to  order  the  army  under  Prince 
Poniatowski,  his  nephew,  to  be  delivered  up  to  the 
Russian  general,  Branicki,  a  renegade  Pole  !  When 
we  remember  all  these  difficulties  we  may  perhaps  be 
led  to  form  a  more  merciful  opinion  of  the  character 
of  the  unfortunate  Stanislaus. 

Many  people,  however,  of  influence  in  the  country 
refused  to  have  matters  arbitrarily  changed  in  this 
way.  Malachowski,  Potocki,  Sapieha,  Solticki,  and 
others,  would  not  consent  to  a  restitution  of  the  old 
vicious  system  of  government,  and  rather  than  accept 
such  terms,  resolved  to  throw  the  king  overboard. 
The  Prussians,  however,  now  brought  active  inter- 
ference to  bear  upon  the  Poles  ;  a  declaration  was 
issued  by  them,  in  which  they  complained  that  the 
Poles  had  changed  their  mode  of  government,  with- 


KOSCIUSZKO.  239 

out  the  knoivledge  or  participation  of  the  neigJiboiiring 
friendly  powers.  A  body  of  troops  was  now  sent 
into  the  country  under  General  Mollendorf.  The 
Prussian  troops  entered  Thorn  on  January  24,  1793, 
and  Danzig  soon  after  became  completely  a  Prussian 
town.  The  Government  of  Poland  hereupon  (Feb- 
ruary 3rd)  issued  a  protest  at  Grodno,  signed  by 
Stanislaus,  Felix  Potocki,  and  Alexander  Sapieha. 
Before  the  final  appeal  to  arms,  there  was  to  be  one 
more  constitutional  struggle  at  the  diet  of  Grodno, 
which  terminated  on  November  24,  1793,  at  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  In  the  same  year  the  second 
treaty  of  partition  was  signed  between  Prussia  and 
Russia.  The  former  power  acquired  the  remainder 
of  Great  Poland,  and  the  Russian  boundary  was 
advanced  to  the  centre  of  Lithuania  and  Volhynia. 
By  this  second  partition  Austria  received  nothing. 
She  was  fully  occupied  with  France,  and  the  division, 
as  the  German  historian  says,  took  place  as  it  were 
behind  her  back. 

The  people,  maddened  by  the  national  dishonour 
and  the  great  losses  of  their  territory,  now  rose  under 
the  celebrated  Thaddeus  Kosciuszko,  by  birth  a 
Lithuanian,  a  noble-minded  patriot  and  excellent 
general.  Kosciuszko  marched  upon  Warsaw,  which 
was  invested  by  the  Prussian  troops,  and  compelled 
them  to  raise  the  siege.  Unfortunately,  however, 
some  massacres  were  committed  by  the  popular 
party  there,  as  also  at  Wilno  ;  which  caused  some 
Poles,  including  many  of  the  clergy,  to  stand  aloof 
from  the  insurgents  ;  Stanislaus  was  such  a  cypher 
that  he  was  neglected  by  all  parties.     Suvorov,  the 


VU  01«/x^yi.6k 


THADDEUS   KOSCIUSZKO. 


MACIEIOWICB.  241 

Russian  general,  now  entered  tlie  country,  and 
Kosciuszko  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at  the 
battle  of  Macieiowice,  near  Warsaw,  on  October  i, 
1794  ;  there  is  no  truth,  however,  in  the  assertion  that 
he  exclaimed  on  that  occasion,  ''Finis  Polonicc ;'' 
this  he  denied  to  the  day  of  his  death.  We  have  an 
interesting  account  of  this  battle  in  the  "  Notes  of  my 
Captivity  in  Russia,"  of  the  poet  Niemcewicz.  He 
writes  as  follows  :  "  On  the  eve  of  the  most  unlucky 
day  in  my  life,  a  day  in  which  1  lost  my  liberty,  and 
witnessed  with  the  greatest  pain  the  events  which 
precipitated  the  total  ruin  of  my  native  country,  I  was 
calm  and  even  merry.  The  house,  #here  we  were, 
had  been  plundered  and  laid  waste,  as  were  all  others 
which  the  Russians  had  passed.  It  belonged 
formerly  to  the  family  of  Macieiowski,  and  after- 
wards to  that  of  Zamojski.  In  the  drawing-room  on 
the  first  floor  were  to  be  seen  family  portraits  of 
primates,  chancellors,  generals,  bishops,  and  others. 
All  these  gentlemen  had  their  eyes  put  out  and 
their  faces  cut  with  swords,  and  mangled  by  the 
Cossacks."  He  then  goes  on  to  say  how  the  en- 
gagement began  early  on  the  following  morning: 
**  General  Kosciuszko,  apprehending  at  the  beginning 
of  the  battle  that  the  enemy  would  lodge  themselves 
in  the  village,  which  covered  our  left  wing,  gave  orders 
to  set  it  on  fire.  As  soon  as  the  red  balls  were  thrown, 
flames  and  curling  clouds  of  smoke  rose  to  the  skies  ; 
these  flames  and  this  smoke,  and  the  poor  peasants 
of  the  village,  with  their  wives  and  children  in  tears, 
rushing  to  the  wood  in  the  attempt  to  save  themselves, 
recall  to  my  mind  the  most  cruel  scene  I  have  ever 

17 


242  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKI. 

witnessed."  Niemcewicz  was  himself  wounded  and 
taken  prisoner.  "  Between  four  and  five  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  we  saw  a  detachment  of  soldiers  ap- 
proaching •head-quarters,  and  carrying  upon  a  hand- 
barrow,  hastily  constructed,  a  man  half-dead.  This 
was  General  Kosciuszko.  His  head  and  body, 
cov^ered  with  blood,  contrasted  in  a  dreadful  manner 
with  the  livid  paleness  of  his  face.  He  had  on  his 
head  a  large  wound  from  a  sword,  and  three  on  his 
back  above  the  loins,  from  the  thrusts  of  a  pike.  He 
could  scarcely  breathe."  Niemcewicz  and  Kosciuszko 
were  carried  captives  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  remained 
in  prison  till  the  death  of  Catherine.  On  the 
accession  of  Paul  they  were  both  released,  and 
allowed  to  leave  the  country.  Niemcewicz  has 
described  with  great  minuteness  their  interview  with 
Paul,  and  winds  up  with  the  following  tribute  to  the 
character  of  that  eccentric  man,  of  whom  we  so  often 
hear  nothing  but  abuse  :  "  He  said  himself,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  sincerely,  that  if  he  had  reigned  at  the  time, 
far  from  co-operating  in  the  partition  of  Poland,  he 
would  have  been  strongly  opposed  to  it." 

As  this  is  the  last  occasion  on  which  Kosciuszko 
will  be  mentioned  in  our  history,  it  may  be  as  well  to 
give  the  chief  facts  in  the  life  of  this  illustrious  man. 
He  was  sprung  from  a  noble  but  poor  Lithuanian 
family,  and  was  born  on  February  i6,  1746,  at 
Mereczow  Szczyzna,  in  the  palatinate  of  Novvogrodek, 
near  the  birth-place  of  the  poet  Mickiewicz.  After 
he  had  finished  his  studies,  carried  on  both  at  Warsaw 
and  Paris  in  the  corps  of  cadets,  he  entered  the 
service  as  an  officer  of  engineers.     But  owing  to  an 


I 


KOSCTUSZKO   IN   FRANCE.  243 

unfortunate  attachment,  in  which  the  friends  of  the 
lady  refused  to  recognise  his  suit,  he  left  his  native 
country  again  for  France  about  the  time  when  the 
war  between  England  and  her  North  American 
colonies  broke  out.  Kosciuszko  sailed  for  Phila- 
delphia, and  on  his  arrival  joined  the  American 
army  as  a  volunteer,  and  was  conspicuous  for  his 
bravery  at  the  battles  of  Saratoga  and  Yellowsprings. 
Washington  made  him  a  brigadier,  and  afterwards 
Governor  of  West  Point  on  the  Hudson, 

When  peace  was  signed  in  1783  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  Kosciuszko  returned 
to  Poland,  and  led  a  retired  life  till  the  time  when  the 
conclusion  of  an  alliance  with  Russia,  in  1790,  seemed 
to  give  a  hope  of  the  restoration  of  something  like  its 
old  dignity  to  his  country,  which  for  some  time  had 
been  overrun  by  foreign  troops.  Kosciuszko  was  then 
named  brigadier-general,  and  when  the  confederates 
of  Targowica  had  enabled  the  Russians  to  invade  the 
country  again,  he  distinguished  himself  at  Zielence 
and  Dubienka  (1792).  But  the  fatal  weakness  of  King 
Stanislaus  neutralised  all  his  efforts,  and  in  conjunc- 
tion with  some  others  of  the  most  promising  Polish 
officers,  he  was  obliged  to  quit  his  native  country  for 
fear  of  the  vengeance  of  the  Russians,  who  were 
now  triumphant.  This  occurred  in  August,  1792  ; 
Kosciuszko  betook  himself  to  France  again,  where 
the  National  Assembly  accorded  him  the  title  of 
French  citizen.  After  this  time  we  find  him  residing 
at  Leipzig  and  Dresden.  But  in  1794  he  returned  to 
his  native  country,  then  in  the  agonies  of  her  dis- 
solution.    He  was  now  chosen  head  of  the  national 


^44  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKI. 

army,  but,  as  previously  mentioned,  was  taken  pri- 
soner by  the  Russians  at  Macieiowice.  We  have 
already  spoken  of  his  release  by  Paul,  together  with 
many  other  Polish  prisoners.  The  Tsar  even  offered 
him  a  high  military  position  in  Russia.  But 
Kosciuszko  refused  all  his  gifts  and  repaired  to  the 
United  States.  Here  he  remained  eighteen  months, 
and  then  returned  to  Europe.  The  first  country  he 
visited  in  the  old  continent  was  France,  in  the  hope 
that  there  he  would  be  able  to  do  something  for  the 
restoration  of  the  independence  of  Poland.  The 
government,  however,  of  France  would  do  nothing 
for  him,  but  the  people  generally  received  him  with 
cordiality.  He  was  invited  to  a  great  banquet  at 
which  about  500  guests  welcomed  him.  Bonneville, 
the  president,  proposed  his  health  in  the  usual  exag- 
gerated style  of  French  eloquence,  *'  La  liberie  est 
smivee :  Kosciuszko  est  en  Europe  !  "  The  Polish  hero 
was  not  more  successful  with  Napoleon,  and  accor- 
dingly went  again  into  retirement  at  Fontainebleau, 
where  he  spent  many  years. 

When  Alexander  I.  had  received  by  the  treaty  of 
Vienna  a  great  part  of  Poland  and  had  granted  a 
constitution,  the  hopes  of  Kosciuszko  were  again 
aroused,  and  the  patriot  had  several  meetings  with 
the  Tsar,  whose  benevolent  feelings  towards  him  were 
somewhat  chilled,  when  he  perceived  the  extensive 
demands  of  the  Poles,  who  considered  the  eastern 
boundary  of  their  country  to  be  the  Dwina  and  the 
Dnieper.  Kosciuszko,  now  finding  that  all  his  plans 
were  regarded  with  disfavour,  retired  to  Switzerland, 
and  died  there  on  October   15th,  18 17,  aged  71  years. 


^»LISH    KOSYNIER    JN    THE   TIME   OF    KOSCIUSZKO, 


246  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKI. 

We  must  now  return  to  the  condition  of  Poland 
after  the  cJefeat  of  Kosciuszko.  A  paralysis  seized 
the  unfortunate  country.  The  loss  of  their  hero 
seemed  the  ruin  of  Poland.  As  his  successor  General 
Wavvrzccki  was  chosen,  but  he  exercised  very  little 
influence.  The  Poles  now  endeavoured  to  enter 
into  negotiations  with  Suvorov,  but  he  refused  to 
admit  them  to  his  presence.  Finding  themselves 
cut  off  from  all  hope,  the  people  of  Warsaw  re- 
solved to  defend  themselves  to  the  last  extremit}', 
and  Zaig.czek  took  the  management  of  affairs.  The 
suburb  of  Praga,  which  afterwards  obtained  such  a 
sad  celebrity  in  European  annals,  is  separated  from 
the  city  of  Warsaw  by  the  river  Vistula,  but  is  joined 
by  a  bridge.  Suvorov  divided  his  army  into  seven 
columns,  and  commenced  storming  this  suburb  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  3rd  of  November. 
The  slaughter  of  the  Poles  was  very  great.  13,000 
in  all  perished  at  Praga  ;  more  than  2,000  were 
drowned  in  the  Vistula:  1500  were  taken  prisoners, 
and  not  more  than  800  succeeded  in  returning  to 
Warsaw.  Among  the  slain  were  Generals  Jasinski, 
Korsak,  Kwasznewski,  and  Grabowski.  The  captives 
included  Generals  Mayen,  Hesler,  Krupinski,  five 
colonels,  and  438  other  officers.  Suvorov  entered 
Praga  when  the  horrors  were  over.  Buxhovden  was 
appointed  governor  of  the  conquered  suburb  ;  a  tent 
was  put  up  for  the  Russian  commander.  The  pri- 
soners were  there  brought  to  him  ;  he  returned  them 
their  swords.  That  night  he  slept  in  a  Kalmuck 
kibitka  ;  the  two  previous  nights  he  had  passed  with- 
out sleep.     Early  on  the  following  morning  deputies 


iss^^^"^^^ 


SUVOROV. 


248  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKI. 

from  Warsaw  made  their  appearance.  They  brought 
Suvorov  a  letter  from  King  Stanislaus.  "  The  Govern- 
ment of  Warsaw,"  wrote  this  feeble  man,  "  has  asked 
my  mediation :  the  inhabitants  will  defend  them- 
selves, unless  their  lives  and  property  are  guaranteed." 
The  deputies  required  an  armistice  for  a  week  for  the 
conclusion  of  a  treaty.  The  general  on  duty  brought 
back  the  answer  of  Suvorov.  "  Treaties  are  not 
necessary.  The  soldiers  must  be  disarmed,  and  all 
weapons  handed  over  to  the  Russians.  The  king  will 
be  confirmed  in  his  position,  the  Russians  will  imme- 
diately enter  Warsaw.  The  lives  and  property  of  the 
inhabitants  are  guaranteed  :  an  answer  is  expected  in 
the  course  of  twenty-four  hours."  The  deputies  were 
brought  into  the  tent  of  Suvorov  :  he  sat  on  a  block 
of  wood  :  another  block  served  him  for  a  table.  His 
only  word  was  '' pokoj'  (peace),  and  throwing  aside  his 
sword  he  went  to  meet  the  deputies  with  outstretched 
arms.  But  he  would  not  listen  to  any  truce  ;  his  only 
terms  were,  the  disarming  or  sending  away  the  soldiers 
from  Warsaw,  if  they  would  not  lay  down  their  arms  ; 
the  delivery  of  their  arms  and  arsenals  to  the  Russians, 
and  the  setting  free  of  the  Russian  prisoners.  The 
space  of  a  day  was  to  be  granted,  and  if  these  terms 
were  refused,  hostilities  were  at  once  to  be  recom- 
menced. An  indescribable  tumult  reigned  in  Warsaw, 
and  led  to  some  sanguinary  riots.  On  the  8th  it 
capitulated,  and  the  Russians  made  their  entry  into 
the  unfortunate  city,  the  keys  of  which  were  delivered 
to  Suvorov.  The  following  day  he  paid  a  visit  to 
King  Stanislaus.  The  last  time  they  had  met  was 
seven  years  before  at  Kaniov,  among   the   splendid 


I 


STANISLAUS   ABDICATES.  249 


retinue  of  Catherine,  during  her  journey  to  the  Crimea. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  city  were  disarmed.  But 
there  still  remained  elsewhere  some  bodies  of  Polish 
troops.  Joseph  Poniatowski  was  at  Blon  with  3000 
men  and  17  guns  :  Orzarowski  at  Suchoczino  with 
1500  men  and  10  guns.  Madalinski  and  Dg.browski, 
pursued  by  the  Prussians  and  having  18,000  men  with 
20  guns,  were  reinforced  by  the  2000  infantry,  4000 
scythemen,  and  1500  cavalry  with  25  guns,  who  had 
escaped  from  Warsaw.  Orzarowski  and  Poniatowski 
endeavoured  to  come  to  terms  with  the  conquerors, 
and  dismissed  their  forces.  Madalinski  gave  up  the 
command  to  Wawrzecki,  who  was  himself  finally 
compelled  to  surrender,  and  thus  the  various  Polish 
corps  were  broken  up. 

The  Prussians  now  occupied  Cracow  ;  they  were  as 
eager  for  the  spoils  as  the  Russians,  but  left  the 
laborious  and  painful  work  to  them,  reaping  all  that 
they  could  from  the  efforts  of  others.  The  third 
division  of  Poland  now  took  place.  Austria  had 
Cracow,  with  the  country  between  the  Pilica,  the 
Vistula,  and  the  Bug.  Prussia  had  the  capital  with 
the  territory  as  far  as  the  Niemen,  and  the  rest  went 
to  Russia.  On  April  25,  1795,  Stanislaus  resigned 
the  crown  at  Grodno,  and  retired  to  St.  Petersburg, 
where  he  died  in  1798.  His  remains  rest  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  in  the  Nevski  Prospect ;  the  exact 
place  of  his  burial  is  unknown,  as  the  inscription  on 
the  stone  has  long  since  been  effaced  by  the  feet  of 
worshippers  in  the  church,  and  no  one  has  been  so 
careful  of  his  memory  as  to  have  it  re-cut.  He  died 
despised  by  Poles  and  Russians  alike.     Enough  has 


250  STANISLAUS   PONIATOWSKT, 

been  said  already  about  the  weakness^of  his  character., 
but  Rulhiere  tells  us  that  the  day  after  the  Russians 
had  forcibly  carried  away  certain  persons  of  rank 
and  note  for  opposing  the  plans  of  the  Empress 
Catherine,  to  the  dismay  of  the  capital,  Stanislaus 
was  found  by  the  deputies  of  the  diet  busily  em- 
ployed in  sketching  the  pattern  of  a  new  uniform  for 
certain  of  his  attendants  on  the  anniversary  of  his 
coronation.  Still  he  could  display  manly  conduct  on 
some  occasions,  as  on  the  memorable  day  of  the 
promulgation  of  the  new  constitution.  He  was  an 
elegant,  accomplished  man,  and  one  who  could  admir- 
ably have  filled  a  private  station,  but  in  the  "  fierce  light 
that  beats  about  the  throne  "  we  only  see  his  weakness. 
And  thus  tlie  history  of  independent  Poland  concludes 
with  her  Romulus  Augustulus.  During  his  life  he  was 
often  reminded  by  the  epigrams  in  circulation  of  the 
opinion  in  which  his  subjects  held  him,  but  the  poor 
king  was  always  more  or  less  in  a  state  of  dependence. 
Soon  after  he  ascended  the  throne,  when  he  wished  to 
form  a  matrimonial  alliance  with  an  archduchess  of 
the  Austrian  family,  he  was  obliged  to  forego  it, 
because  it  would  not  be  pleasing  to  Russia. 

Paul,  on  his  accession,  invited  Stanislaus  to  come 
to  St.  Petersburg.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
Emperor  was  disposed  to  treat  the  Poles  tenderly. 
Some  details  of  this  occurrence  are  given  by  Prince 
Czartoryski  in  his  memoirs,  he  at  that  time  being 
resident  at  the  Russian  Court.  It  appears  that  while 
Paul  as  Grand  Duke  was  on  his  tour  through  various 
parts  of  Europe  with  his  wife,  they  passed  through 
Southern  Poland,  and  the  king  met  them  at  Wisnio- 


STANISLAUS   IN  RUSSIA.  25I 

wiec,  an  interesting  place  on  account  of  its  historical 
associations.  It  had  once  belonged  to  the  Wisnio- 
wiecki  family,  long  extinct,  whose  last  heir  had 
married  a  Mniszek,  the  descendant  of  the  man  whose 
daughter  became  the  wife  of  the  false  Demetrius. 
From  this  family  also  came  Michael,  the  weak  king 
who  preceded  Sobieski. 

The  apartments  of  the  palace  were  full  of  valuable 
historical  portraits.  Among  them  were  those  of 
Marina  and  Demetrius :  there  were  also  pictures 
representing  their  coronation  at  Moscow.  It  was  in 
this  palace  that  King  Stanislaus  welcomed  the  Russian 
Grand  Duke.  Paul  took  a  liking  to  him,  and  spoke 
of  his  intention  of  returning  a  hundredfold  all  his 
kindness.  When  Stanislaus,  the  victim  of  the  caprice 
of  fortune,  came  to  St.  Petersburg,  he  was  received 
with  royal  honours.  Paul  offered  him  one  of  his 
palaces,  which  he  had  furnished  magnificently  for 
his  use,  and  did  what  he  could  to  make  his  stay 
agreeable  ;  but  there  was  no  thought  of  allowing 
the  unfortunate  king  to  return  to  Poland.  In  1797 
the  coronation  of  the  Emperor  Paul  took  place  at 
Moscow,  and  thither  the  Court  followed  him.  He 
insisted  that  Stanislaus  should  also  be  present  at 
this  ceremony.  His  position  at  such  a  scene  must 
have  been  a  very  painful  one.  We  are  told  that 
during  divine  service  and  the  ceremonies  which  pre- 
ceded the  coronation  Stanislaus  was  so  tired  out,  that 
he  sat  down  in  the  tribune  which  had  been  assigned 
to  him.  Paul  at  once  remarked  this  conduct,  and 
sent  a  messenger  to  tell  him  that  he  must  stand  up 
while  the  ceremoiiies  lasted,  and  the  poor  king  was 


252  STANISLAUS  PONIATOWSKI. 

obliged  to  submit.  It  will  be  remembered  that  one 
of  his  nephews  was  Joseph  Poniatowski,  who  distin- 
guished himself  in  the  days  of  Poland's  independence, 
and  became  a  famous  general  of  Napoleon.  He  was 
drowned  in  the  riv^er  IiLlster  after  the  battle  of  Leipzig. 
The  statue  of  Joseph  Poniatowski,  which  was  the 
work  of  Thorwaldsen,  and  had  been  intended  by  the 
Poles  to  adorn  one  of  the  public  squares  of  Warsaw, 
was  ordered  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas  to  be  broken 
to  pieces ;  he  subsequently,  however,  revoked  his 
command,  and  presented  it  to  Prince  Paskevich,  and 
it  now  adorns  one  of  the  seats  formerly  belonging  to 
that  nobleman. 

Such  was  the  fate  of  the  proud  Republic  of  Poland, 
which  has  since  remained  blotted  out  from  the  list  of 
nations,  although  in  the  sixteenth  century  we  have 
seen  her  the  greatest  power  of  Eastern  Europe.  To 
Poland  nothing  now  remains  but  her  language  as  a 
bond  of  union  to  her  children.  Her  institutions  and 
laws  have  perished  ;  in  Galicia  the  Austrian  civil 
code  prevails  ;  in  Posen,  the  Prussian  Landrecht.  In 
the  kingdom  of  Poland  under  Russian  government 
from  the  year  1807  the  code  Napoleon  has  prevailed  ; 
in  the  Western  and  South-western  Governments  the 
Lithuanian  statute,  changed  by  an  ukase  of  June  25, 
1840,  into  Russian  law. 


XII. 


THE    POLES    AS    SUBJECTS    OF    RUSSIA,    AUSTRIA, 
AND   PRUSSIA. 


The  great  events  of  the  French  Revolution  follow- 
ing with  such  startling  rapidity  seemed  to  efface  from 
men's  minds  the  immediate  effects  of  the  terrible  fate 
of  Poland.  Many  Poles  emigrated  on  the  destruction 
of  their  country's  independence,  and  a  large  number 
entered  the  French  service.  But  when  they  saw  that 
nothing  was  done  for  them  by  the  peace  of  Luneville 
(1801),  many  returned  to  their  native  country  and 
accepted  the  amnesty  which  had  been  offered  them. 
Some  joined  Napoleon  in  his  expedition  against  St. 
Domingo,  and  perished  there  ;  indeed,  he  is  said  to 
have  been  glad  to  get  rid  of  them  in  .this  way  as  they 
had  become  importunate.  The  treatment  of  the  Poles 
by  Austria  and  Prussia  was  less  generous  than  their 
treatment  by  Russia  ;  every  attempt  was  made  to 
Germanise  them,  and,  indeed,  Prussia  has  proceeded  iri 
the  same  course  ever  since.  Russia  still  allowed  the  use 
of  the  native  language,  and  Alexander,  in  1803,  con- 
ferred great  privileges  upon  the  University  of  Wilno, 

Mapoleon  had  become  all-powerful  after  the  battle 

253 


254  POLAND  DISMEMBERED. 

of  Jena,  in  1806,  and  in  1808  he  took  from  Prussia 
some  of  her  Polish  possessions  and  formed  th2m  into 
a  small  Duchy  of  Warsaw,  which  consisted  of  six 
departments — Posen,  Kalisz,  Plock,  Warsaw,  Lomza, 
and  Bydgoszcz  (Bromberg) — with  a  population  of  a 
little  more  than  two  millions.  The  government  of 
this  duchy  was  given  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony.  It 
was  extended  in  18 10  by  the  incorporation  of  Cracow, 
Sandomir,  Lublin,  and  other  cities. 

The  Poles  had  greatly  distinguished  themselves  in 
the  Peninsular  campaign,  especially  in  the  affair  of 
Somo  Sierra,  on  the  30th  of  November,  1808.  It 
was  by  the  capture  of  this  place  by  the  Polish  lancers 
that  the  road  was  opened  for  the  French  troops  to 
Madrid.  In  1812  took  place  the  memorable  expedi- 
tion of  Napoleon  to  Russia.  When  he  arrived  at 
Wilno  the  Poles  hoped  for  some  declaration  in  favour 
of  the  restitution  of  the  country's  independence.  They 
had  joined  the  invading  army  to  the  number  of 
60,000  men.  But  when  a  deputation  came  to  him  at 
Wilno,  informing  him  that  the  Diet  of  Warsaw  had, 
on  the  28th  of  June,  voted  the  re-establishment  of  the 
kingdom,  he  answered  evasively,  contenting  himself 
with  general  statements,  and  added,  "  I  have  guaran- 
teed to  the  Emperor  of  Austria  the  integrity  of  his 
dominions,  and  I  cannot  sanction  any  manoeuvre  or 
any  movement  that  tends  to  trouble  the  quiet  posses- 
sion of  what  remains  to  him  of  the  provinces  of 
Poland."  It  was  at  Warsaw,  on  the  loth  of  Decem- 
ber in  the  same  year,  that  Napoleon  had  his  interview 
with  the  Archbishop  of  Mechlin. 

A  resettlement  of  the  conquered  portions  of  Poland 


TREATY  OF   VIENNA.  255 

v/as  made  by  the  treaty  of  Vienna  (18 14).  Austria 
was  to  have  Gah'cia  and  the  salt  mines  of  Wieliczka  ; 
Posen  was  to  belong  to  Prussia,  and  that  power  was 
confirmed  in  what  she  had  gained  at  the  first  partition. 
The  city  and  district  of  Cracow  were  to  form  an  inde- 
pendent state  under  the  guarantee  of  the  three 
powers  ;  the  remainder  of  the  former  kingdom  of 
Poland,  including  the  Duchy  of  Warsaw  (embracing 
a  tract  bounded  by  a  line  drawn  from  1  horn  to  near 
Cracovv  on  the  west  ;  to  the  Bug  and  Niemen  to  the 
east),  went  to  Russia,  and  was  to  form  a  constitutional 
kingdom  subject  to  the  Tsar.  Professor  Freeman  com- 
pares the  union  in  some  respects  with  that  of  Sweden 
and  Norway.  The  constitution  was  a  liberal  one 
considering  the  circumstances  ;  Poland  was  to  be 
governed  by  responsible  ministers,  a  senate,  and  a 
legislative  chamber.  There  were  to  be  a  national 
army  under  the  national  flag  and  a  separate  budget. 
The  freedom  of  the  press  and  personal  liberty  were 
guaranteed,  and  Polish  was  to  be  the  official  language. 
But  it  was  obvious  that  from  the  first  it  would  be 
difficult  to  unite  a  country  with  such  a  liberal  consti- 
tution to  one  under  the  patriarchal  government  of  an 
autocrat,  however  good  the  intentions  of  Alexander 
may  have  been. 

The  Russian  Emperor  granted  an  amnesty  to  all 
the  Poles  who  had  fought  against  him  under  Napo- 
leon in  the  campaign  of  18 12,  and  in  this  resettlement 
of  Poland  was  assisted  by  his  old  friend  Prince  Adam 
Czartoryski.  In  the  Congress  of  Vienna  Prince  Adam 
played  so  prominent  a  part  that  Lord  Castlereagh 
wrote  to  Lord  Liverpool  that  the  Prince,  "  although 


GRAND   DUKE   CONSTANTINE. 


CONSTANTINE 


257 


not  in  any  official  situation  appears  now  the  actual 
Russian  minister  at  least  in  Polish  and  Saxon  ques- 
tions." After  the  negotiations  at  Vienna  the  Emperor 
Alexander  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  Poles,  dated 
May  25,  1 81 5,  and  a  provisional  government  was 
formed  at  Warsaw,  with  Prince  Czartoryski  at  the 
head.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  Poles  for  Napoleon 
seems  to  have  lasted  till  the  end.  Two  Polish  officers 
were  very  anxious  to  accompany  him  in  any  capacity 
to  St  Helena,  but  were  not  permitted  to  do  so. 
Herzen  tells  us  in  his  Memoirs  how  the  Poles  were 
continually  laying  their  wreaths  at  the  base  of  the 
column  in  the  Place  Vendome.  A  Pole,  Zaj^czek, 
was  appointed  viceroy  of  the  new  kingdom,  and  the 
Grand  Duke  Constantine,  brother  of  the  Russian 
Emperor,  took  the  command  of  the  army.  The  calm 
which  was  felt  at  first  after  the  long  dissensions  in  the 
country  was  soon  destined  to  be  interrupted.  The 
feud  between  Russia  and  Poland,  as  we  have  shown 
in  preceding  chapters,  had  existed  for  ages  ;  on  one 
side,  boundless  liberty  of  the  noble ;  on  the  other, 
personal  rule  of  the  Tsar  ;  religious  differences  must 
be  added.  All  the  traditions  of  the  Pole  bound  him 
to  the  west,  of  the  Russian  to  the  east.  The  proud 
Polish  nobility,  so  long  accustomed  to  unlimited 
authority,  began  to  feel  humiliated,  and  their  indigna- 
tion soon  showed  itself.  In  18 19  a  censorship  of  the 
press  was  established,  contrary  to  the  terms  of  the 
constitution  ;  some  of  the  students  of  the  Universities 
of  Wilno  and  Warsaw  were  imprisoned  for  the  expres- 
sion of  liberal  opinions  ;  the  diets,  according  to  the 
constitution,  were  to  be  convoked  every  two  years,  but 

18 


258  POLAND   DISMEMBERED. 

none  were  summoned  between  1820  and  1825,  and 
only  one  after  the  accession  of  Nicholas  ;  finally,  in 
1825,  the  publication  of  the  debates  was  abolished. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  seems  to  be  proved  that  the 
city  of  Warsaw  increased  greatly  in  material  pros- 
perity, as  did  the  kingdom  generally. 

It  was  the  French  Revolution  of  1830  which  caused 
the  mine,  which  had  long  been  prepared,  to  explode. 
On  the  evening  of  the  29th  of  November,  1830,  the 
insurrection  broke  out.  It  was  begun  by  some  stu- 
dents, who  hoped  to  seize  the  Grand  Duke  Constan- 
tine  at  his  residence,  the  palace  Belvedere,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Warsaw.  They  killed  two  officers,  but 
did  not  succeed  in  getting  hold  of  Constantine.  The 
citizens  in  the  meantime  rose,  and  the  Polish  soldiers 
joined  the  people,  killing  some  of  their  officers  who 
refused  to  desert  their  allegiance.  The  chief  com- 
mand was  given  to  General  Chlopicki,  a  veteran  who 
had  distinguished  himself  under  Napoleon.  Constan- 
tine retreated  towards  Volhynia  with  the  troops  which 
remained  faithful  to  him.  Early  in  1831  Nicholas 
sent  Diebitsch  at  the  head  of  120,000  men  to  crush 
the  insurrection.  Chlopicki,  who  despaired  of  success, 
and  hoped  to  arrange  matters  with  the  Emperor,  laid 
down  his  dictatorship,  which  was  conferred  by  the 
Poles  on  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski,  whom,  in  case  of 
success,  they  seem  to  have  intended  to  make  their 
king ;  this  noble  family  had  already  furnished  so 
many  great  citizens  to  the  republic.  The  Poles  now 
carried  on  the  insurrection  more  vigorously  than  ever, 
and  appointed  Prince  Radziwill  their  commander-in- 
chief.     In  answer  to  the  proclamation  of  Diebitsch 


WARSAW   TAKEN.  259 

they  declared  on  the  25th  of  January  that  Nicholas 
had  forfeited  the  crown,  and  by  a  supreme  effort 
raised  an  army  of  60,000  men,  many  of  whom,  how- 
ever, were  badly  armed.  Diebitsch  crossed  the  river 
Bug  and  received  several  checks  from  the  insurgents, 
especially  at  Grochow.  He  was  cut  off  from  all  com- 
munications with  Russia  by  insurrections  in  Lithu- 
ania and  Podolia.  He  defeated  the  Polish  general 
Skrzynecki  in  the  battle  of  Ostrol^ko  (26th  of  May, 
1 831),  but  died  two  days  afterwards  of  cholera,  which 
also  in  a  short  time  carried  off  the  Grand  Duke  Con- 
stantine  at  Vitebsk.  Diebitsch,  however,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Paskievich,  to  whom  Warsaw  capitulated 
on  the  8th  of  September. 

The  punishment  of  the  unfortunate  country  was 
severe  ;  many  Poles  who  had  been  engaged  in  the 
insurrection  were  sent  into  Siberia,  and  the  constitu- 
tion which  had  been  given  by  Alexander  I.  was 
annulled.  The  diets  were  at  an  end,  and  the  country 
was  administered  by  officials,  appointed  directly  by 
the  Tsar.  Its  ancient  historical  divisions  were  also 
replaced  by  Russian  governments  i^gubernii).  The 
University  of  Wilno  was  suppressed  and  Kharkov 
founded  in  its  stead.  The  valuable  library  at  Warsaw, 
which  was  founded  by  the  Zaluskis,  was  carried  off, 
and  now  forms  part  of  the  Public  Library  of  St. 
Petersburg. 

After  the  collapse  of  the  Polish  revolution.  Prince 
Czartoryski  escaped  from  the  country,  and  arrived 
in  London,  but  although  a  Whig  Ministry  was  in 
power,  the  tone  of  England  just  at  that  time  was 
somewhat  conservative  ;  at  all  events,  in  matters  of 


26o  POLAND   DISMEMBERED. 

foreign  politics.  The  country  was  alarmed  at  the 
excitement  in  France,  and  the  cries  of  revenge  for 
Waterloo,  and,  as  the  Polish  delegates  reported  to 
their  compatriots,  "had  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  policy  of  England  ought  to  be,  not  to  weaken 
Russia,  as  Europe  might  soon  again  require  her 
services  in  the  cause  of  order,  and  to  prevent  Poland, 
whom  it  regarded  as  the  natural  ally  of  France,  from 
becoming  '  a  French  province  of  the  Vistula.'  "  More- 
over, the  Government  was  occupied  with  the  Reform 
Bill  and  the  Belgian  question.  According  to  his 
Memoirs,  Prince  Adam  narrowly  escaped  capture 
by  the  Russian  army  at  Cracow.  '*  He  arrived  without 
a  servant,"  says  Niemcewicz  the  poet,  who  welcomed 
him  to  London,  "deprived  of  all  property,  and  his 
whole  luggage  represented  by  a  small  trunk.  What 
a  freak  of  fortune  !  I  well  remember  when  I  was 
his  father's  aide-de-camp  fifty  years  ago,  and  when, 
during  an  inspection  of  the  Lithuanian  army,  the 
tents  of  his  suite  were  carried  by  300  horses  and 
fourteen  camels."  The  Prince  gained  nothing  from 
his  interviews  with  Talleyrand  and  Palmerston,  those 
two  masters  of  state-craft,  who  put  him  off  with 
vague  speeches,  expressive  of  sympathy,  but  little 
more.  He  was,  however,  extremely  popular  in 
London  society,  and  on  the  2nd  of  January,  1832, 
a  public  dinner  was  given  to  him,  at  which  Campbell 
the  poet  made  a  speech.  Our  English  Tyrtaeus  got 
up  a  kind  of  spasmodic  enthusiasm,  but  although  he 
talked  a  great  deal  about  Polish  authors  and  states- 
men, his  zeal  does  not  seem  to  have  carried  him  so 
far  as  to  attempt  to  learn  their  language  ;  at  least. 


ANCILLON.  261 

to  judge  from  his  ludicrous  misspellings  and  confu- 
sions of  names  and  places. 

Brougham,  who  was  at  that  time  Lord  Chancellor, 
gave  the  Prince  but  little  encouragement,  although 
in  his  pre-ministerial  days  he  had  spoken  warmly  of 
the  cause  of  Poland.  Austria  was  on  the  side  of 
Russia  and  Prussia  also.  Ancillon,  the  Prussian 
Foreign  Minister,  is  reported  to  have  said  that  Poland 
had  better  be  annihilated,  "so  as  to  have  donevvilh 
her  once  for  all,"  and  when  the  British  ambassador 
at  Berlin  appealed  to  the  Treaty  of  Vienna,  he 
sharply  replied  that  "  every  man  can  do  as  he  likes 
in  his  own  house."  Nothing  therefore  was  achieved 
for  Poland,  and  although  Prince  Czartoryski  took  up 
his  abode  in  England,  his  advocacy  of  the  Polish  cause 
was  only  met  with  rhetoric  and  platonic  sympathy. 

In  this  condition  Poland  remained  for  some  years  ; 
the  only  noteworthy  event  being  the  return  of  a 
large  body  of  the  Uniates  in  her  former  Eastern 
provinces  to  the  Orthodox  Church  in  1839.  The  fact 
that  Russia  at  the  time  of  the  Crimean  War  was 
engaged  in  a  deadly  struggle  with  two  of  the  great 
European  powers,  raised  the  hopes  of  the  Poles  that 
something  might  be  done  for  them.  Their  names 
had  just  before  become  somewhat  prominent  in 
Europe,  as  many  of  them  assisted  the  Hungarians  in 
the  war  of  1849.  It  was  probably  on  this  account  that 
the  Russians  interfered  on  that  occasion  ;  we  all  feel 
uncomfortable  when  a  great  fire  is  raging  in  our 
neighbourhood.  The  name  of  General  Bem  and  his 
heroic  achievements  will  at  once  occur  to  our  readers, 
and  we  shall  not  readily  forget  his  last  struggle  at 


262  POLAND   DISMEMBERED. 

Segesvar  (Schassburg),  where  the  poet  Petofi  was 
his  aide-de-camp.  Bern  died  as  a  Mussulman  at 
Aleppo  in  1850.  The  Turkish  Sultan,  Abdul  Mcdjid, 
refused  to  surrender  the  Polish  refugees  who  had  put 
themselves  under  his  protection,  although  great 
e (Torts  were  made  to  induce  him  to  give  them  up. 
Many  of  the  Poles  now  entered  the  Turkish  service, 
and  it  was  to  assist  in  the  formation  of  a  Polish 
legion  that  the  poet  Mickiewicz  undertook  his  ill- 
fated  journey  to  Constantinople.  How  he  and  they 
fared  in  their  new  spheres  of  action,  we  shall  shortly 
have  occasion  to  narrate. 

The  Crimean  War,  as  we  have  said,  roused  the 
hopes  of  the  Poles.  Prince  Czartoryski  addressed 
several  notes  to  the  English  Government,  recom- 
mending various  plans  for  attacks  upon  Russia.  He 
also  applied  to  the  French  Emperor,  Napoleon  HI., 
but  found  him  vague  and  deceptive.  The  following 
remarks  on  an  interview  between  him  and  Prince 
Adam  are  to  be  found  in  the  life  of  Mickiewicz,  by 
his  son.  In  May,  1855,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
attempt  of  Pianori,  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski  thought 
of  presenting  an  address,  in  which  it  was  said  that 
the  Poles  blessed  Providence  for  having  preserved 
the  life  of  him  from  whom  they  had  such  great 
hopes.  The  Prince  called  upon  Mickiewicz,  and 
begged  him  to  accompany  him  to  the  Tuileries, 
thinking  that  he  might  find  an  opportunity  for  saying 
a  few  words  on  behalf  of  Poland.  Mickiewicz  accord- 
ingly went  with  him.  The  Emperor  received  them 
in  a  sa/on,  where  many  persons  were  present.  He 
expressed  in  a  low  voice  hfs  sympathies  with  Poland, 


THE   GALTCIAN  MASSACRES.  263 

then,  elevating  his  tone  so  as  to  be  heard  by  the 
officers  of  his  household,  he  added, "  I  can  do  nothing 
for  her."  This  duplicity  made  a  bad  impression  on 
Prince  Adam  and  the  poet.  The  latter,  however, 
made  no  remark  at  the  time.  But  at  night,  when  he 
related  the  occurrence  to  his  private  friends,  he  said, 
"  That  man  has  a  vulgar  soul,"  and  added,  speaking 
of  the  conduct  of  Prince  Czartoryski  :  "  The  Pole 
was  the  most  princely  of  the  two." 

The  result  might  have  been  expected.  When  the 
Powers  made  one  of  their  periodical  temporary 
settlements  of  the  Eastern  Question  at  the  treaty 
of  Paris  in  1856,  the  Poles  found  themselves  wholly 
excluded  from  consideration.  In  this  condition  the 
Russian  part  of  Poland  continued  to  the  year  i860; 
the  Prussian  had  given  no  signs  of  turbulence.  In 
1846  had  broken  out  in  Galicia  a  terrible  revolt  of 
the  peasants,  who  are  said  to  have  been  excited 
against  their  landlords  by  the  Austrian  Government. 
In  consequence  of  these  disturbances,  the  Republic 
of  Cracow,  the  last  remaining  fragment  of  free 
Poland,  was  annexed  to  Austria. 

In  i860  broke  out  the  last  great  Polish  insurrec- 
tion, in  all  respects  a  very  ill-advised  attempt.  On 
the  29th  of  November  of  that  year,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the  revolution  of 
1830,  national  manifestations,  taking  a  religious  form, 
took  place  in  the  Warsaw  churches,  and  the  cele- 
brated Polish  hymn,  Bose,  cos  Polsk^  ("  O  God,  who 
hast  protected  Poland  ")  was  frequently  heard  in  the 
streets.  On  the  25th  of  February,  1861,  on  the 
anniversary    of   the   battle   of  Grochow,   the  Agri- 


264"  POLAND   DISMEMBERED. 

cultural  Society  of  that  city,  presided  over  by  Count 
Zamojski,  held  a  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
senting a  petition  to  the  Emperor  to  grant  a  constitu- 
tion. Although  the  Tsar  did  not  concede  this 
demand,  he  decreed  by  an  ukase  of  the  26th  of 
March  a  council  of  state  for  the  kingdom,  elective 
councils  in  each  government,  and  municipal  councils 
in  Warsaw  and  the  chief  cities.  Moreover,  the 
Polish  language  was  to  be  adopted  in  all  the  schools 
of  the  kingdom.  The  Marquis  Wielopolski  was 
appointed  Director  of  Public  Instruction  and  Worship. 
Alexander  in  a  previous  speech  at  Warsaw  had 
appeared  conciliatory,  but  had  warned  the  Poles 
against  indulging  in  "  dreams." 

On  the  8th  of  April  the  people  appeared  in  crowds 
in  front  of  the  castle  of  the  Viceroy,  and  when  they 
refused  to  disperse,  were  fired  upon  by  the  soldiers. 
About  two  hundred  persons  were  killed  in  this 
unfortunate  affair,  and  many  more  wounded.  The 
viceroyalty  of  Count  Lambert  was  not  successful  in 
conciliating  the  people  ;  he  was  succeeded  by  Count 
Liiders,  who  was  reactionary  in  his  policy.  An 
attempt  was  made  in  June,  1862,  on  the  life  of  the 
Count  in  the  Saxon  Garden  (Saksonski  Sad),  and  he 
was  soon  afterwards  recalled  ;  his  place  being  taken 
by  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  who  was  chiefly 
guided  by  the  Marquis  Wielopolski,  an  unpopular 
but  able  man.  Two  attempts  were  made  upon  the 
life  of  the  Grand  Duke,  the  latter  of  which  was 
nearly  successful  ;  the  life  of  Wielopolski  was  also 
several  times  in  danger.  An  address  was  presented 
to  the  Grand   Duke,  in  which   he  was   told  that  in 


THE    SECRET   COMMITTEE.  265 

order  to  conciliate  Polish  feelings,  all  those  provinces 
which  had  previously  belonged  to  Poland,  and  had 
been  acquired  by  Russia  in  earlier  periods  of  her 
history  during  her  wars  with  that  country  must  be 
surrendered.  But  certainly  no  power  in  Europe 
would  allow  of  such  a  readjustment  of  her  territories 
as  this.  In  consequence  of  Count  Zamojski  being 
considered  the  instigator  of  this  address,  he  was 
requested  by  the  Government  to  leave  the  country 
for  a  time.  On  the  night  of  June  15,  1863,  a 
secret  conscription  was  held,  and  the  persons  con- 
sidered to  be  most  hostile  to  the  Government  were 
taken  in  their  beds  and  forcibly  enlisted.  Out  of  a 
population  of  180,000  the  number  thus  seized  at 
Warsaw  was  2,000  ;  soon  after  this  the  insurrection 
broke  out.  Its  proceedings  were  directed  by  a 
secret  committee,  styled  R^^d  (Government),  and 
were  as  mysterious  as  the  movements  of  the  cele- 
brated FehmgericJite.  The  Poles  fought  under  enor- 
mous difficulties.  Most  of  the  bands  consisted  of 
undisciplined  men,  unfamiliar  with  military  tactics, 
and  they  had  to  contend  with  well-organised  troops. 
Few  of  them  had  muskets ;  the  generality  were 
armed  only  with  pikes,  scythes,  and  sticks.  The 
Russians  had  every  advantage — rifles,  hospitals  for 
the  wounded,  and  a  good  commissariat.  The  bands 
of  the  insurgents  were  chiefly  composed  of  priests, 
the  smaller  landowners,  lower  officials,  and  peasants 
who  had  no  land,  but  those  peasants  who  possessed 
any  land  refused  to  join.  Many  showed  but  a 
languid  patriotism  on  account  of  the  oppressive  laws 
relating  to  the  poorer  classes,  formerly  in  vigour  in 


266  POLAND   DISMEMBERED. 

Poland,  of  which  the  tradition  was  still  strong.  The 
war  was  only  guerilla  fighting,  in  which  the  dense 
forests  surrounding  the  towns  were  of  great  assist- 
ance to  the  insurgents.  The  secret  emissaries  of  the 
revolutionary  Government  were  called  stiletcziki, 
from  the  daggers  which  they  carried.  They  succeeded 
in  killing  many  persons  who  had  made  themselves 
obnoxious  to  the  national  party.  Especially  note- 
worthy was  the  fate  of  the  Jew,  Hermani,  who  was 
stabbed  on  the  staircase  of  the  Hotel  de  I'Europe 
by  four  stiletcziki,  when  just  about  to  quit  the  city. 
He  had  acted  as  a  spy  against  the  patriotic  party. 
His  treason,  long  suspected,  had  been  discovered  by 
the  most  daring  conduct  of  the  members  of  the 
Rzg,d.  One  of  them  disguised  himself  as  a  cJiinovnik, 
entered  the  house  of  the  governor  during  his  absence, 
and  by  means  of  false  keys,  obtained  access  to  his 
papers.  Then  the  treason  of  Hermani  became 
patent,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  death.  Marian 
Langiewicz,  who  was  for  some  time  dictator,  was 
obliged  to  fly  across  the  Austrian  frontier. 

No  quarter  was  given  to  the  chiefs  of  the  insur- 
gents ;  when  captured  they  were  shot  or  hanged. 
One  of  the  saddest  cases  was  that  of  Sierakowski,  an 
ex-colonel  of  the  Russian  army,  who  was  taken 
prisoner  when  desperately  wounded,  after  an  action 
in  the  forests  of  Lithuania.  The  Russians  accused 
him  of  more  than  ordinary  treachery  in  his  desertion. 
He  was  hanged,  although  so  desperately  wounded 
that  there  was  no  hope  of  his  life  being  saved.  Other 
leaders  of  note  were  the  priest  Mackiewicz,  and 
Narbutt,  the  son  of  the  historian. 


MURAVIEV,  267 

General  Muraviev  was  appointed  governor  of  the 
western  provinces,  and  established  his  head-quarters 
at  Wilno  ;  his  rule  was  an  iron  one,  but  not  all  the 
stories  told  of  him  are  true.  So  much  must  be  said 
in  common  fairness. 

When  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine  resigned  the 
viceroyalty  at  Warsaw  he  was  succeeded  by  Count 
Berg.  The  latter  was  fired  upon  from  the  windows 
of  the  Zamojski  palace,  in  consequence  of  which  the 
vast  building  was  confiscated  by  the  Government,  and 
the  furniture  which  it  contained  destroyed.  In  the 
damage  which  ensued  the  favourite  pianoforte  of  the 
eminent  Polish  musician  Chopin  was  dashed  to  pieces 
and  some  valuable  Polish  and  Oriental  manuscripts 
perished. 

By  May,  1864,  the  insurrection  was  suppressed,  but 
it  had  cost  Poland  dear.  All  its  old  privileges  were 
now  taken  away  ;  henceforth  all  teaching,  both  in  the 
universities  and  schools,  must  be  in  the  Russian  lan- 
guage. Russia  was  triumphant,  and  paid  no  attention 
to  the  demands  of  the  three  Great  Powers,  England, 
France,  and  Austria.  Prussia  had  long  been  silently 
and  successfully  carrying  on  her  plan  for  the  German - 
isation  of  Posen,  and  on  the  8th  of  February,  1863,  she 
had  concluded  a  convention  with  Russia  with  a  view  of 
putting  a  stop  to  the  insurrection.  Her  method 
throughout  has  been  more  drastic  ;  she  has  slowly 
eliminated  or  weakened  the  Polish  element,  carefully 
avoiding  any  of  those  reprisals  which  would  cause  a 
European  scandal.  The  Russian  has  alternately 
caressed  and  punished  his  Polish  brother  ;  he  feels 
however  the  sympathy  of  blood.     He  is  proud  of  the 


r 


268 


POLAND   DISMEMBERED. 


productions  of  Polish  literature,  as  coming  from  a 
member  of  the  great  Slavonic  family,  and  never 
assumes  the  real  or  affected  contempt  of  the-German. 
It  only  remains  to  add  that  Prince  Adam  Czartor- 
yski,  the  most  prominent  figure  in  recent  Polish  politics, 
died  at  Montfermeil,  near  Meaux,  in  1861.  The  head 
of  the  family  is  now  Prince  Ladislaus. 


XIII. 


POLISH   LITERATURE. 


We  do  not  find  any  early  legendary  poetry  among 
the  Poles  ;  not  only  are  no  national  heroes  celebrated 
in  any  productions  of  the  kind,  but  no  trace  can  be 
found  in  Poland  of  any  translation  of  popular 
mediaeval  poems,  treating  of  knightly  adventures  of 
Arthur  or  Charlemagne,  of  Hector  or  Alexander. 
Bohemian  literature  has  its  Alexandreid,  its  Floris 
and  Blancheflor,  but  Poland  nothing  of  the  kind.  But 
that  compositions  of  the  sort  existed  would  seem  to 
be  rightly  inferred  from  many  passages  in  the  old 
Latin  chroniclers,  Gallus,  Kadlubek,  Boguchwal,  and 
Dlugosz.  The  first  of  these  says  that  on  the  death  of 
Boleslas  the  Brave  there  was  universal  grief — Nulla 
cantilena  pnellaris,  nullus  cytharce  somis  andiebatiir 
in  tahernis.  Bielski,  the  chronicler  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  who  wrote  in  Polish,  tells  us  that  Casimir  I., 
on  his  return  to  Poland,  was  greeted  with  the  song ; 
A  witazey  zvitaj niily  gospodynie  (^^^oXcovaQy  welcome, 
dear  lord").  We  also  find  mention  in  documents 
of  iocnlatores,  Jdstriones,  goliardi,  and  others.  In 
Wojcicki's  Library  of  Ancient  Writers  a  few  old  Polish 

songs  are  included,  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  assign 

269 


270  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

their  date.  The  most  ancient  Polish  hymn,  used  also 
as  a  war-song,  was  an  address  to  the  Virgin.  The 
oldest  manuscript  of  this  poem  is  dated  1408,  and  is 
preserved  at  Cracow  ;  it  was  popularly  attributed  to 
St.  Adalbert,  but  seems  to  be  based  upon  a  Bohemian 
hymn. 

No  account  of  Polish  literature  would  be  com- 
plete which  omitted  all  mention  of  the  writers  who 
used  Latin,  and  therefore  we  shall  include  in  our 
sketch  the  most  prominent  of  these  authors.  We 
must  remember  that  also  in  England,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  the  early 
historical  literature  is  in  Latin.  Vernacular  history 
begins  in  Poland  as  soon  as  it  did  with  us,  viz.,  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  most  ancient  of  the  Latinists 
is  a  certain  Martin  Callus,  who  is  supposed  to  have 
died  about  1 1 13.  He  is  said  by  some  to  have  been  a 
Frenchman,  and  we  observe  that  Professor  Bruckner, 
of  Berlin,  styles  him  without  hesitation — der  Franzose. 
Other  interpretations  of  his  name  have  been  sug- 
gested, but  it  is  certain  that  he  was  a  foreigner.  His 
chronicle  is  written  in  a  very  poetical  style  ;  probably 
had  he  used  a  vernacular,  he  would  have  written  in 
some  sort  of  verse.  He  was  clearly  a  man  of  exten- 
sive reading,  as  appears  by  his  quotations  from 
classical  authors. 

Callus  was  followed  by  Matthew  Cholewa  and 
Vincent  Kadlubek,  both  bishops  of  Cracow,  and 
Bogufal  or  Boguchwal,  Bishop  of  Posen.  Vincent 
Kadlubek  was  for  a  long  time  one  of  the  most  popular 
writers  on  Polish  history,  and,  like  Wenceslaus  Hajek 
in  Boheinia,  had  the  f.iculty  of  making  his  myths  and 


QUEEN  Margaret's  psalter.  271 

monstrous  stories  so  pleasant  to  his  countrymen  that 
he  was  long  looked  upon  as  an  infallible  authority. 
But  his  legends  have  in  many  cases  vanished  before 
the  searching  criticism  of  modern  scholars.  His 
chronicle  in  our  own  days  has  been  translated  into 
Polish  by  two  anonymous  authors,  who  have  added 
their  version  to  the  edition  of  Count  Przezdziecki. 
Kadlubeck  was  first  Provost  of  Sandomir,  then  Bishop 
of  Cracow,  and  died  a  Cistercian  monk  in  1223.  After 
his  death  he  was  canonised.  However  uncritical,  the 
matter  of  his  book  is  valuable,  but  the  Latin  which  he 
employs  is  detestable. 

Till  the  fourteenth  century  no  specimens  of  the 
Polish  language  have  been  preserved,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  glosses,  names  of  persons  and  places 
which  have  been  collected  with  great  care  by 
Professor  Baudoin  de  Courtenay  in  his  work  O 
Drevne-polskom  jazike  do  XIV.  stoletiya  ("The  Old 
Polish  Language  till  the  P'ourteenth  Century").  In 
this  century  some  more  chroniclers  appeared,  Martinus 
Polonus  and  John  of  Czarnikow.  They  wrote  in 
Latin.  We  have  already  spoken  of  the  foundation  of 
the  University  of  Cracow.  We  know  that  a  version 
of  the  Psalms  in  Polish  existed  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  for  we  are  told  in  a  life  of  St.  Kunigunde  of 
Sandecz,  near  Cracow,  who  died  in  1292,  that,  before 
she  left  the  church,  she  was  in  the  habit  of  saying  ten 
psalms  in  vulgari. 

The  oldest  specimen  of  the  Polish  language  of  any 
length  which  has  come  down  to  us  is  the  so-called 
Psalter  of  Queen  Margaret,  discovered  in  1826  at  the 
convent  of  St.  Florian  at  Linz  in  Austria.     The  date 


272  POLISH  LITERATURE, 

of  the  manuscript  appears  to  be  about  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century.  It  has  been  carefully  edited 
by  Professor  Nehring  of  Breslau  (Posen,  1883).  He 
thinks  that  it  is  a  copy  of  an  older  work.  The 
Psalter  was  by  a  mere  conjecture  called  after  Mar- 
garet, the  first  wife  of  King  Louis,  who  died  in  1349  ; 
Caro  the  historian  is  inclined  to  think  that  the  book 
belonged  to  Mary  his  daughter.  The  next  important 
monument  of  the  Polish  language  is  the  Bible  of  Queen 
Sophia,  originally  called  the  Bible  of  Szarospatak, 
the  place  in  Hungary  at  which  it  was^preserved.  The 
manuscript  in  its  present  state  is  imperfect,  containing 
only  the  Pentateuch,  Joshua,  Ruth,  and  Kings  ;  there 
are  fragments,  however,  of  three  other  books,  and 
quite  recently  a  leaf  containing  a  portion  of  the  prophet 
Jeremiah  has  been  found  in  the  University  Library  at 
Breslau.  This  Bible  is  said  to  have  been  written  for 
Sophia,  the  fourth  wife  of  Ladislaus  Jagiello,  about 
1455.  It  has  been  edited  with  great  care  by  Professor 
Malecki,  author  of  an  excellent  Polish  grammar. 

Among  the  terrible  vicissitudes  to  which  the  unfor- 
tunate kingdom  of  Poland  has  been  subjected  the  loss 
of  many  valuable  manuscripts  must  be  counted.  Thus 
a  fine  Bible  on  vellum  in  seven  folio  volumes,  even 
so  late  as  the  previous  century  was  to  be  found  in  the 
library  of  Cz^stochowa,  as  Professor  Nehring  proves  by 
a  citation  from  Janocki's  letters.  There  was  a  printing 
press  in  Cracow  as  early  as  the  year  1474,  but  the 
first  book  m  the  Polish  language  was  printed  in  1521, 
at  the  press  of  Hieronymus  Wietor.  It  was  entitled 
"  Speeches  of  the  wise  King  Solomon."  Other  works 
soon  made  their  appearance. 


DLUGOSZ.  ^73 

In  a  recent  number  of  the  Prace  Filologiczne,  Pro- 
fessor Bruckner  has  printed  some  valuable  fragments 
of  sermons  {Kazania  Swi^tokrzyskie)  preserved  at 
Gnesen,  to  which  he  assigns  the  date  1400.  And  while 
speaking  of  these  fragments  we  may  mention,  although 
belonging  to  a  later  period,  the  Life  of  Saint  Eufraxia 
{Zyivot  S.  Eufraksyi)^  which  has  been  published  by 
M.  Krynski,  of  Warsaw,  in  the  above-mentioned  lite- 
rary journal.  It  is  preserved  in  the  library  of  Count 
Krasinski  at  Warsaw,  and  is  assigned  to  the  date 
1524.  It  is  very  gratifying  to  find  these  discoveries 
of  forgotten  fragments  of  the  noble  old  Polish  lan- 
guage, which  must  always  have  great  attractions  for 
the  scholar.  Prof  Bruckner  thinks  that  much 
remains  undiscovered. 

But  leaving  the  vernacular  for  awhile,  we  must  say 
a  few  words  about  the  thrice  famous  Jan  Dlugosz  or 
Longinus,  as  he  was  sometimes  called,  owing  to  the 
prevailing  fashion  of  Latinising  names.  He  has  left 
us  a  most  important  chronicle  written  in  Latin 
Dlugosz  (141 5-1486)  was  Canon  of  Cracow.  His 
work  extends  from  the  earliest  periods  of  his  country's 
history  to  his  own  time.  The  part  which  treats  of  the 
years  from  1386  till  just  before  his  death  is  the  most 
valuable.  The  work  exists  in  many  manuscripts,  and 
a  supplementary  part  remained  for  a  long  time 
unprinted.  About  1 500  were  written  the  "  Memoirs 
of  a  Polish  Janissary  "  (yPami^tniki  Janczara  Polaka)^ 
which  have  been  already  cited. 

To  this  time  also  belongs  the  world-renowned 
Copernicus  (1473-1543).  We  will  add  a  short 
life   of  this    great    man    as    the    main    facts    of    it 

19 


274  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

are  but  little  known.  His  father  was  a  native  of 
Cracow,  who  had  settled  as  a  wholesale  trader  at 
Thorn,  where  his  illustrious  son  first  saw  the  light 
The  regular  form  of  his  name  was  Coppernick.  His 
mother,  Barbel  Watzelrode,  was  the  daughter  of  a 
prosperous  merchant.  The  education  of  the  future 
astronomer  was  undertaken  by  his  uncle,  Lukas 
Watzelrode,  subsequently  Bishop  of  Ermeland  or 
Warmia.  Copernicus  was  first  sent  to  a  school  in 
his  native  city,  and  afterwards  studied  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cracow.  He  next  visited  Bologna  and  Padua, 
at  the  latter  of  these  he  also  applied  himself  to 
medicine.  In  1500  he  was  at  Rome,  where  he 
lectured  on  mathematics.  At  one  time  we  hear 
of  his  being  a  deputy  to  the  Polish  diet  at  Grodno. 
His  great  work  in  which  he  completely  upset  the 
Ptolemaic  system  appeared  in  the  last  year  of  his 
life. 

Copernicus  had  delayed  its  publication,  being  fully 
persuaded  of  the  hostility  to  which  he  would  be 
exposed  from  the  defenders  of  the  old  doctrines.  In 
order  to  shield  himself  he  dedicated  the  work  to 
Pope  Paul  III  The  title  of  it  is  :  De  Orbium 
Ccelestium  Revolutionitus  Libri  XVI.,  and  he  was 
engaged  on  its  composition  from  1507  to  1530.  Before 
it  had  issued  from  the  press  the  great  astronomer 
who,  up  to  that  time  had  enjoyed  good  health,  was 
stricken  with  paralysis,  which  was  accompanied 
by  loss  of  memory  and  the  obscuration  of  his 
intellectual  powers.  He  now  lay  on  his  death-bed, 
and  in  this  sad  condition  the  work  was  brought  to 
him  by  one  of  his  pupils.     He  had  just  consciousness 


COPERNICUS.  275 

enough  to  recognise  it  as  the  work  of  his  life,  and 
then  fell  into  a  stupor  and  shortly  afterwards  passed 
away.  His  house  at  Altenstcin  is  still  to  be  seen. 
A  statue  of  him  by  Thorwaldsen  ornaments  one  of 
the  public  squares  of  Warsaw.  Copernicus  lies  buried 
at  Thorn  with  the  following  inscription  upon  his 
tomb : — 

NON   PAREM    PAULI   GRATIAM   REQUIRO 

VENIAM    PETRI   NEQUE   POSCO  :   SED   QUAM 

IN   CRUCIS   LIGNO  DEDERAS   LATRONI 

SEDULUS   ORG. 

NICOLAO  COPERNICO   THORUNENSI 

ABSOLUTE   SUBTILITATIS 

MATHEMATICO,   NE  TANTI   VIRI   APUD 

EXTEROS   CELEBERR.    IN    SUA 

PATRIA    PERIRET    MEMORIA,    HOC 

MONUMENTUM    POSITUM.    MORT 

VARMI^   IN    SUO   CANONICATU. 

ANNO    1543,   DIE  4  (stc),   ^TATIS   LXX. 

The  Poles  call  the  period  between  1541  and  1606 
their  golden  age.  We  have  already  alluded  to  the 
wide  spread  of  Protestantism  in  the  land  :  the  two 
Socini  came  to  reside  in  Poland,  and  their  Catechism 
was  issued  at  Rakow  in  1605. 

With  Nicholas  Rej  of  Naglowice  (i  505-1569)  begins 
the  list  of  Polish  poets.  We  shall  see  among  them 
the  complete  influence  of  the  Renaissance.  Up  to 
this  time  as  far  as  the  Polish  language  had  been 
cultivated  it  had  been  under  the  influence  of  Chekh 
literature.      Rej's  best   work   was    Zwierciadlo    albo 


Siy6  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

zywot poczchvego  czloivieka  ("  The  Mirror,  or  the  Life  of 
an  Honourable  Man")  :  this  was  written  in  prose.  He 
has  left  us  many  apothegms,  which  remind  us  somewhat 
of  the  epigrams  of  John  Heywood.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  a  kind  of  play  entitled  "Joseph  in  Egypt," 
which  abounds  with  strange  anachronisms.  Jan  Kocha- 
nowski  (i  503-1 584),  called  the  prince  of  Polish  poets, 
cameof  a  poetical  famih-,  having  a  brother,  a  cousin,  and 
a  nephew,  who  were  all  authors  of  some  kind.  Kocha- 
nowski  studied  at  the  University  of  Padua,  and  after- 
wards visited  Paris,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Ronsard.  Among  his  best  productions  may  be 
mentioned  his  imitation  of  Vida's  "  Game  of  Chess," 
which  is  a  free  adaptation  of  the  original,  and  Propor- 
zec  albo  Hold  Pruski  ("  The  Standard,  or  Investiture  of 
Prussia  "),  in  which  he  describes  the  oath  of  fealty  taken 
to  the  Polish  king  by  Albert  of  Brandenburg.  He' 
wrote  a  play  in  one  act  with  twelve  scenes  called  "  The 
Despatch  of  the  Greek  Ambassador,"  which  is  com- 
posed in  the  five-foot  iambic  metre,  and  reminds  us 
of  some  of  the  plays  of  George  Buchanan.  It  has 
rhymed  choruses  such  as  we  see  in  some  of  the  French 
plays  of  the  sixteenth  century.  His  most  popular 
work,  however,  is  his  Treny,  or  "  Lamentations  written 
on  the  Death  of  his  Daughter  Ursula":  they  prove 
him  to  have  been  much  more  than  an  artificial  poet. 
Besides  his  Polish  compositions  he  also  wrote  some 
Latin  elegies,  one  of  which  has  already  been  quoted 
in  the  chapter  relating  to  Henri  de  Valois  and  his 
flight  from  Poland. 

In  a  short  summary  like  the  present  we  can  only 
hope  to  give  some  of  the  leading  names  in  Polish 


SZYMONO  WICZ .  277 

literature.  Szymonowicz  (15  57-1629),  called  in  Latin 
Simonides,  wrote  some  good  pastorals,  which  are 
valuable  on  account  of  the  introduction  of  scenes  of 
rustic  life  of  a  genuine  Polish  character  ;  the  con- 
dition, howev^er,  of  the  peasants  was  too  wretched  to 
admit  of  their  being  made  the  subject  of  bucolic  poems. 
But  we  shall  perhaps  be  more  inclined  to  believe  the 
attempt  possible  if  we  remember  the  French  pas- 
torals of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 
Other  writers  of  bucolics  are  the  brothers  Zimorowicz 
and  Gawinski.  Something  may  be  said  about  them 
here  collectively,  although  they  extend  into  the  Jesuitic 
period  about  which  we  shall  shortly  speak.  The 
youngest  of  the  brothers  died  early  (1604- 1629),  ^nd 
has  only  left  us  some  pretty  little  songs  which  are  as 
graceful  as  any  by  Herrick  or  Suckling,  entitled  Roxo- 
lanki.  The  elder,  Joseph  ( 1 597-1628),  composed  seven- 
teen very  remarkable  idyls.  His  sketches  are  from 
nature  ;  he  writes  picturesquely,  and  introduces  many 
provincial  words  of  Malo-Russian  origin,  which  come 
into  his  poems,  like  the  Scotticisms  of  Burns.  Two  of 
the  idyls  {Kozaczyna  and  Burdcr Riiska)  diVQ  almost,  as 
Spasovich  says,  like  pages  from  history,  because  an 
eye-witness  describes  in  them  the  expedition  of 
Khmelnitski  with  the  Tatars  against  Red  Russia 
and  the  sacking  of  Lemberg.  Joseph  published  his 
idyls  together  with  those  of  his  brother,  and  to  the 
latter  many  of  Joseph's  have  been  erroneously 
assigned.  Their  relation  to  each  other  as  authors 
was  first  clearly  pointed  out  by  the  critic  Bielowski. 
These  interesting  writers  were  of  ArVnenian  origin. 
Altogether   Szymonowicz,  the    brothers  Zimorowicz 


278  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

and  Gawinski,  form  an  interesting  group  :  the  Polish 
idyl  is  somewhat  artificial,  it  is  true  ;  but  it  is  never 
without  local  colouring,  and  we  are  glad  of  the  folklore 
in  those  of  Szymonowicz  and  the  historical  pictures  of 
those  of  Zimorowicz. 

A  celebrated  Latin  poet  appeared  in  the  person  of 
Casimir  Sarbiewski,  whose  name  has  been  Latinised 
into  Sarbievius  (1646).  His  contemporaries  con- 
sidered him  the  greatest  rival  of  Horace  that  had 
appeared,  and  he  received  a  gold  medal  from  the 
Pope,  who  made  him  his  laureate.  His  works 
appear  to  have  had  a  certain  popularity  in  England  ; 
many  of  them  were  translated  by  Dr.  Watts.  A 
valuable  history  of  Poland  was  composed  in  Latin 
by  Martin  Kromer  (15 12- 1589).  He  has  been  called 
the  prince  of  Polish  historians  ;  he  certainly  had  a 
great  command  of  the  Latin  language,  and  a  very 
picturesque  style.  He  was  born  in  15 12,  at  Biecz, 
a  little  town  of  Galicia,  son  of  a  citizen  there,  and 
was  educated  first  at  the  University  of  Cracow,  and 
afterwards  in  Bologna  and  Rome,  where  he  studied 
theology.  When  he  returned  he  was  chosen  secre- 
tary to  Sigismund  Augustus,  and  so  popular  was  he 
with  this  prince,  that  after  his  coming  to  the  throne 
Sigismund  entrusted  him  with  many  public  functions, 
and  in  order  to  open  the  path  for  him  to  the  highest 
state  offices,  ennobled  him  in  1552.  At  the  sugges- 
tion of  this  monarch,  and  with  assistance  from  the 
national  archives,  he  commenced  his  great  historical 
work,  De  origine  et  rebus  gestis  Polonorum,  which 
describes  Polish  afifairs  from  the  earliest  period  till 
the  year  1 506,  that  of  the  death  of  King  Alexander. 


KROMER.  279 

It  first  appeared  in  1555,  at  Basle,  and  has  since 
been  frequently  reprinted.  Kromer  was  a  great 
advance  upon  his  predecessors ;  he  has  a  most 
elegant  and  flowing  style  ;  his  Latin  is  classical, 
and  he  understands  the  pohtical  systems  of 
the  neighbouring  peoples.  Thus  he  has  some- 
thing of  the  critical  historian.  He  freely  made 
use  of  his  predecessors,  Gallus,  Kadlubek,  and 
Dlugosz,  and  improved  upon  them.  This  was  the 
age  of  the  compilation  of  large  historical  works  ;  we 
had  our  HoUinshed,  Bohemia  her  Hajek,  and  Poland 
her  Kromer.  The  time  had  not  come  for  a  really 
critical  investigation  of  early  history  ;  but  the 
Renaissance  had  shown  how  to  put  the  existing 
materials  into  an  elegant  shape.  Besides  his  history, 
Kromer  also  wrote,  Polonia,  sive  de  situ,  populis, 
moribus  et  republica  regni  Polonici.  His  works  in  the 
Polish  language  are  not  of  great  value  ;  one  of  them 
has  already  been  mentioned  on  the  imprisonment  of 
Catherine  Jagiello.  They  are  chiefly  polemical  tracts 
against  Luther.  He  was  for  some  time  coadjutor 
with  Hosius,  the  Bishop  of  Warmia,  and  after  his 
death  was  elected  to  fill  his  place.  Kromer  died  in 
1589.  Two  centuries  after  a  very  different  kind  of 
ecclesiastic,  the  volatile  Krasicki  filled  the  same 
position. 

Two  men  deserve  to  be  mentioned  here  on  account 
of  the  position  they  took  up,  with  a  view  to  the 
reformation  of  Church  and  State  ;  they  both  wrote 
in  Latin.  These  are  Andrew  Modrzewski  and 
Stanislaus  Orzechowski.  The  former,  born  in 
1520,  according  to  some,  but  more  probably  in  1503, 


28o  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

belongs  to  the  men  of  the  period  of  the  Sigismunds, 
who  clearly  saw  the  necessity  of  a  change  in  the 
existing  state  of  things.  The  most  important  of  his 
works  is  that  entitled,  De  Republicd  emendanda 
(1 5 51).  He  shows  a  wonderful  insight,  and  speaks 
with  great  freedom  on  the  various  forms  of  govern- 
ment, on  the  social  condition  of  the  Polish  ranks  of 
society  and  on  education.  He  recommended  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  National  Church,  which  should  be 
independent  of  Rome — something  ou  the  model  of 
the  Anglican.  He  saw  beforehand  that  the  power 
of  the  nobility,  which  knew  no  limit,  must  soon 
bring  disaster  upon  Poland,  and  he  advocated  an  im- 
provement of  the  criminal  code,  which  in  his  time, 
be  it  remembered,  only  demanded  ten  groschen  as 
the  penalty  for  the  wilful  murder  of  a  peasant  by  a 
nobleman,  and  a  double  penalty  for  slaying  a  Jew. 

Stanislaus  Orzechowski  had  studied  at  Wittenberg, 
and  imbibed  the  principles  of  the  Reformation.  He 
had  become  a  disciple  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon. 
After  a  short  stay  in  Italy  he  returned  to  his  native 
land  in  1543,  entered  into  orders,  and  was,  after  some 
time,  promoted  to  the  canonry  of  Przemysl.  But 
although  a  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  priest- 
hood he  could  not  entirely  conceal  his  feelings,  and 
was  further  stimulated  by  his  relative,  Rej,  of 
Naglowice,  the  poet.  Being  the  inhabitant  of  a 
province  (Galicia),  where  the  orthodox  religion  was 
prevalent,  he  expressed  in  his  writings  many  opinions 
favourable  to  the  Greek  faith.  For  this  he  was  cited 
before  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  was  obliged  to 
recant  his  doctrines,  and  his  book  was  burnt. 


ORZECHOWSKt.  28 1 

His  submission,  however,  was  only  temporary  ;  he 
soon  afterwards  married  Magdalen  Chelmicki,  and 
when  the  Bishop  of  Przemysl  cited  him  on  that 
occasion  before  his  tribunal,  he  arrived  in  the 
company  of  powerful  friends,  so  that  the  bishop  did 
not  dare  open  the  court,  but  affected  to  judge  him  by 
default,  and  signed  a  decree  of  excommunication. 
He  was  declared  infamous,  and  his  property  was 
confiscated.  But  Orzechowski  was  in  no  way  in- 
timidated. He  publicly  entered  a  church  while 
divine  service  was  going  on,  and  uttered  a  justifica- 
tion of  his  conduct.  His  sentence  was  suspended. 
The  tide  was  now  running  against  the  Roman 
Catholics,  as  was  strongly  shown  at  the  diet 
of  1550  There  were  plenty  of  such  men  as  the 
Prince  Radziwill,  whom  Horsey  found  such  a 
strong  Protestant.  At  this  diet  Orzechowski  made 
his  appearance.  He  read  the  exact  terms  of  his 
excommunication,  and  then  asked  whether  the  clergy 
could  dispose  of  a  man's  life  in  this  way.  The 
diet  decided  that  in  these  things  a  Pole  was  only 
liable  to  his  sovereign.  In  a  bold  manner  Orzechow- 
ski addressed  both  king  and  senate,  and  succeeded 
in  getting  a  delay  ;  and  the  Pope  was  to  be  con- 
sulted as  to  whether  he  might  retain  his  wife. 

But  Orzechowski  was  not  consistently  firm  ;  we 
find  him  afterwards  making  peace  with  the  Roman 
Catholics.  On  the  17th  of  February,  1552,  he  was 
absolved  from  his  excommunication.  He  declared 
to  a  synod  his  submission  in  points  of  doctrine,  and 
resigned  his  ecclesiastical  dignities.  He  had  hopes 
that    the    Roman    authorities    would    recognise    his 


282  POLISH  LITERATURE, 

marriage.  He  was  a  powerful  noble,  and  one  whom  it 
was  worth  while  to  conciliate.  The  great  thing  was 
to  detach  him  from  the  Protestants.  But  our  Pole 
was  no  respecter  of  Popes,  and  even  dared  address 
Julius  III.  in  the  following  strain:  "Consider,  O 
Julius,  and  consider  it  well,  with  what  a  man  you 
will  have  to  do  ;  not  with  an  Italian,  indeed,  but  with 
a  Russian  [he  was  a  native  of  Little  Russia].  Not 
with  one  of  your  mean  Popish  subjects,  but  with 
the  citizen  of  a  kingdom  where  the  monarch  himself 
is  obliged  to  obey  the  law.  You  may  condemn  me, 
if  you  like,  to  death,  but  you  will  not  have  done  with 
me  ;  the  king  will  not  execute  your  sentence.  The 
cause  will  be  submitted  to  the  Diet.  Your  Romans 
bow  their  knees  before  the  crowd  of  your  menials  ; 
they  bear  on  their  necks  the  degrading  yoke  of  the 
Roman  scribes  ;  but  such  is  not  the  case  with  us. 
Where  the  law  rules,  even  the  throne,  the  king,  our 
lord,  cannot  do  what  he  likes ;  he  must  do  what  the 
law  prescribes.  He  will  not  say,  as  soon  as  you  shall 
give  him  a  sign  with  your  finger,  or  dazzle  his  eyes 
with  the  fisherman's  ring — *  Stanislaus  Orzechowski, 
Pope  Julius  wishes  you  to  go  into  exile;  therefore  go.' 
I  assure  you  that  the  king  cannot  wish  that  which 
you  do.  Our  laws  do  not  allow  him  to  imprison  or 
to  exile  any  one  who  has  not  been  condemned  by  a 
competent  tribunal." 

The  works  of  Orzechowski  were  put  into  the  Papal 
index,  and  he  was  declared  by  the  ecclesiastical 
writers  to  be  a  servant  of  the  devil.  But  instead  of 
being  tamed  by  these  proceedings,  he  broke  out  into 
stronger  invectives.      This  is  the  way  in  which   he 


ORZECHOWSkl,  283 

Speaks  of  Pope  Paul  IV.  :  "  Since  the  aborpinable 
Caraffa,  who  calls  himself  Paul  the  IV.,  has  ejected 
from  the  church  Moses  and  Christ,  I  shall  willingly 
follow  them.  Can  I  consider  it  a  disgrace  to  be  a 
companion  of  those  whom  he  calls  heretics?  This 
anathema  will  be  an  honour  and  a  crown  to  me. 
The  neglect  of  the  ancient  discipline  has  corrupted 
and  degraded  us.  Paul,  take  care  to  prevent  the 
final  ruin  of  your  see.  Clear  the  city  from  its  crimes  ; 
eradicate  avarice,  despise  the  profits  arising  from  the 
sale  of  your  favours.  I  shall  clearly  explain  and 
prove  to  my  countrymen  that  Roman  corruption  does 
more  harm  to  the  Church  than   Lutheran  perversity." 

In  others  of  his  treatises  he  loaded  this  Pope  with 
abuse,  and  announced  a  new  work,  which  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  published,  but  was  seen  in  manu- 
script by  his  friends,  entitled,  Repudiiim  Romce,  in 
which  he  intended  tc  expose  the  crimes  and  errors  of 
the  Popes.  He  declared  that  he  intended  to  go  over 
to  the  Greek  Church,  which  was  then,  as  it  is  now, 
the  religion  of  the  greater  part  of  the  people  of  the 
province  of  Galicia. 

Orzechowski,  amidst  much  incoherent  abuse,  told 
some  stinging  truths.  Thus  he  showed  that  the  oaths 
taken  by  the  bishops  to  the  papal  see  prevented  them 
from  being  faithful  subjects  of  the  king.  According 
to  him  a  Roman  Catholic  bishop  invested  with  the 
dignity  of  a  senator  was  necessarily  a  traitor  to  his 
country,  as  he  was  obliged  to  prefer  the  interests  of 
Rome  to  those  of  his  sovereign,  having  sworn  alle- 
giance first  to  the  Pope  and  then  to  the  king.  "  The 
oath,"    says     Orzechowski,    addressing      the     kingj 


284  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

"abolishes  the  liberty  of  the  bishops,  and  renders 
them  spies  on  the  nation  and  the  monarch.  The 
higher  clergy  having  voluntarily  submitted  to  this 
slavery  have  in  reality  entered  into  a  conspiracy 
against  their  own  country.  Conspiring  against  you, 
they  are  yet  sitting  in  your  council.  They  have 
investigated  your  plans,  and  reported  them  to  their 
foreign  master."  And  again,  in  another  place,  he  says 
of  the  clergy — "  Let  them  baptize  and  preach,  but  not 
direct  the  affairs  of  the  country.  If,  however,  they 
wish  to  retain  the  senatorial  dignity,  let  them  re- 
nounce the  allegiance  of  Rome."  Many  of  these  bold 
views  of  Orzechowski  may  be  found  in  his  work,  Be 
Pi'imatu  Papce,  which  was  published  anonymously 
in  1558,  but  is  well  known  to  have  been  written  by 
him.  We  have  felt  it  right  to  dwell  at  some  length 
upon  the  career  and  opinions  of  this  prominent  man 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

A  very  active  writer  in  Latin  was  the  Dominican 
monk,  Abraham  Bzowski,  who  died  in  1637.  He 
edited  in  nine  volumes  the  ecclesiastical  annals  of 
Baronius.  Klonowicz,  who  Latinised  his  name  into 
Acernus  {Klon  being  the  Polish  for  maple),  wrote 
some  Polish  and  Latin  poems.  In,  the  first  of  these 
entitled  Fits  (the  boatman),  he  gives  a  minute 
picture  of  the  scenery  on  the  banks  of  the  Vistula, 
the  noble  river  which  flows  by  the  two  capitals  of  the 
country,  Cracow  and  Warsaw^  He  was  thus  able  to 
take  a  wide  survey  of  his  native  land.  His  two 
Latin  poems  are  entitled  "  The  Bag  of  Judas,"  and 
Victoria  Deoriirn.  We  thus  see  Polish  poetry,  as 
far  as  it  has  advanced,  somewhat  of  an  exotic  :  it  was 


SKARGA.  285 

d  hot-house  flower  produced  for  the  half-chivalrous, 
half-Asiatic  society  of  the  nobles,  when  they  con- 
descended to  take  interest  in  letters.  For  them  alone 
it  was  written  ;  the  peasantry  were  sunk  in  ignorance 
and  poverty.  The  burghers  of  the  towns  were  mostly 
Germans  or  Jews,  and  for  them  Polish  literature 
would  have  little  or  no  significance.  There  was  some 
amount  of  pulpit  eloquence,  but  of  rather  a  tawdry, 
rhetorical  kind.  The  palm  in  this  style  of  writing 
is  carried  off  by  Peter  Skarga,  whose  activity  as  a 
Jesuit  has  been  already  spoken  of  He  was  one  of 
the  chief  agents  in  bringing  about  the  union  of 
Brzesc,  the  way  for  which  he  prepared  by  a  theo- 
logical work,  published  in  Polish  at  Wilno,  in  1577  :  he 
defended  it  also  in  a  book  issued  the  year  after  the 
Union,  entitled.  Synod  Brzeski  i  jego  obrona  ("  The 
Synod  of  Brzesc  and  its  Defence"),  1597,  Skarga 
appears  as  an  indefatigable  author,  but  of  his 
numerous  productions  those  best  remembered  are 
his  sermons,  preached  before  the  diet  {Kazania 
Sejmowe,  1600),  in  which  he  with  fervid  eloquence 
warned  the  Poles  of  the  fatal  consequences  likely  to 
ensue  from  their  disunion,  and  the  utter  want  among 
them  of  real  patri^j^ism.  His  miscellaneous  sermons 
(including  those  on  the  Seven  Sacraments)  are  also 
much  admired,  and  Mecherzynski,  in  his  "  History  of 
Polish  Eloquence,"  dwells  with  much  praise  on  his 
funeral  discourses,  uttered  at  the  burial  of  the  widow 
of  Stephen  Batory,  and  the  first  wife  of  Sigismund  HI. 
He  seems,  like  Laud,  to  have  believed  in  a  theocracy, 
to  which  the  royal  power  should  be  subservient. 

History  was  written  about  this    time  in   Latin  by 


^86  POLISH  LxTERATUnn. 

WapowskI  and  others.  The  compilation  of  Alexander 
Gwagnin  (who  was  by  origin  an  Italian,  the  native 
form  of  his  name  being  Guagnini)  is  valuable  both 
for  Russian  and  Polish  history.  But  this  century  can 
boast  of  two  historians  who  used  the  Polish  language, 
Stryikowski,  a  very  learned  man,  and  Martin  Bielski, 
born  in  1495  at  Biala,  from  which  place  he  took  his 
name.  His  book  was,  however,  long  viewed  with 
suspicion  on  account  of  the  leanings  of  the  author  to 
Calvinism. 

Stryikowski  was  born  in  Mazuria  in  the  year  1547, 
but  having  taken  up  his  abode  in  Lithuania,  he  com- 
pletely identified  himself  with  his  new  country,  and 
even  began  to  grieve  about  her  loss  of  political  inde- 
pendence, and  that  she  was  buried  underneath  her 
Polish  civilisation.  He  resolved  to  hand  down  to 
posterity,  the  remains  of  her  old  nationality  which 
every  day  were  more  and  more  decaying.  The 
plan  was  an  excellent  one,  but  Stryikowski 
had  not  the  talent  to  carry  it  out  thoroughly. 
The  requisite  critical  faculty  and  scientific  training 
were  wanting  to  him — as,  indeed,  they  were  to  nearly 
every  historian  of  his  century — but  he  had  two  neces- 
sary qualities,  love  of  knowledge  and  in<Justry.  He 
acquired  the  Russian  and  Lithuanian  languages 
travelled  all  over  Lithuania  and  Livonia,  examining, 
the  scenes  of  battles,  and  digging  up  kiirgans  or 
funeral  mounds.  Moreover,  he  inspected  a  multitude 
of  towns  and  churches  ;  in  a  word,  he  was  the  first 
Lithuanian  archaeologist.  All  the  varied  information 
which  he  had  acquired  in  this  way  he  put  into  his 
book  without  any  system  ;  just  as  nine-tenths  of  the 


g6rnicki.  287 

chroniclers  of  Western  Europe  were  doing  at  the 
time.  Mixing  them  up  with  some  autobiographical 
details,  he  published  them  in  a  large  work,  with  a  very 
voluminous  title :  Kronika  polska,  litewska^  &c., 
1582.  About  forty  years  ago  a  new  edition  of  this 
work  appeared  with  an  excellent  preface.  Stryi- 
kowski  died  about  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  chronicle  of  Martin  Bielski  was  the  first 
attempt  in  Polish  to  give  a  history  of  the  country. 
He  begins  with  the  creation  of  the  world,  just  as 
Raleigh  does  among  ourselves.  Bielski  styled  his 
book  Kronika  swiata,  "The  Chronicle  of  the  World.** 
His  son  Joachim,  who  died  in  1599,  took  that  part 
of  his  father's  history  which  related  to  Poland,  re- 
arranged it  and  published  it  under  the  title,  Kronika 
Polska. 

Luke  Gornicki,  who  lived  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  wrote  a  work  entitled  Dzieje  w 
Koronie  Pohkiej,  which  gives  us  an  account  of  the 
doings  of  the  Court  of  Sigismund  Augustus,  but  he  is 
better  known  by  his  didactic  work  Dzvorzanin  Polski 
("The  Polish  Nobleman  "j,  written  in  imitation  of  the 
Italian  book  of  Balthazar  Castiglione,  Libri  del 
Cortegiano,  which  enjoyed  such  great  popularity 
throughout  Europe.  G6rnicki  gives  the  following 
framework  to  his  treatise.  He  represents  that  at  the 
country  house  of  Samuel  Macieiowski,  the  Bishop  of 
Cracow  and  Chancellor,  near  Cracow,  the  noblemen 
attendant  upon  the  bishop  (for  at  that  time  every 
bishop  had  such  in  his  suite),  were  collected  together. 
To  pass  away  their  time  the}'  discuss  the  question, 
vVith  what  qualities  ought  the  ideal  courtier  to  be  fur- 


288  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

nished  ?     Each    speaks  in  turn,  and  their  dialogues 
form  the  contents  of  the  book. 

A  strange  work  belonging  to  this  time  is  that  of 
Bartosz  (Bartholomew)  Paprocki,  which  deals  with 
Polish  heraldry,  and  is  entitled  Flerby  Rycerstwa 
polskiego  ("  The  Coats  of  Arms  of  the  Polish  Knight- 
hood "),  Cracow,  1584.  It  was  reprinted  by  Turovvski 
in  his  edition  of  the  Polish  classics.  Nicholas  S?p 
Szarzinski,  who  died  in  1 581,  when  but  little  more 
than  twenty  years  of  age,  deserves  mention  for  having 
introduced  the  sonnet  into  Polish  literature,  a  form  of 
composition  afterwards  cultivated  with  great  success 
by  Mickiewicz,  and  in  a  less  degree  by  Gaszynski. 
We  have  no  space  to  enumerate  the  various  transla- 
tions of  the  classics  which  appeared  ;  but  the  produc- 
tion of  two  elaborate  versions  of  the  "  Ethics  "  and 
"  Politics  "  of  Aristotle  by  Dr.  Petrycy,  the  physician 
of  Sigismund  III.,  will  prove  both  that  learned  men 
could  be  found  in  the  country,  and  that  the  Polish 
language  had  reached  such  a  height  of  culture,  as 
placed  it  on  a  level  with  the  best  tongues  of  Europe. 

But  now  the  rising  literature  was  to  be  checked  in 
its  development,  as  were  so  many  Polish  institutions. 
The  frivolous  system  of  education  introduced  by  the 
Jesuits  brought  on  what  has  been  called  the  Maca- 
ronic period  of  literature,  which,  roughly  speaking, 
may  be  said  to  have  lasted  from  1606  to  1764.  The 
language  was  now  mixed  with  Latin  expressions  ;  not 
only  were  many  words  introduced  to  the  prejudice  of 
good  Slavonic  terms,  words  some  of  which  exist  to  the 
present  day  in  the  language  and  disfigure  it  ;  but  it  was 
the  custom  in  prose  works  to  alternate  whole  sentences 


POTOCKL  289 

of  Latin  with  Polish.  Much  of  the  literature  of  this 
degraded  period  consists  of  fulsome  panegyric,  the 
verse  is  full  of  conceits,  devoid  of  all  taste.  The 
poets  of  this  period  are  rhymsters  merely.  Here  and 
there,  however,  a  man  appeared  to  whose  name  some 
interest  attaches,  such  as  Waclaw  Potocki  (1622- 
1696.?),  now  known  to  have  been  the  author  of  the 
Wojna  Chocimska,  or  "  War  of  Chocim."  This  epic  re- 
mained in  manuscript  till  1850;  it  has  a  great  deal 
of  colour,  and  forms  a  kind  of  oasis  in  the  literary 
desert.  It  is  unfortunately  imperfect  as  a  portion 
of  the  only  manuscript  in  which  it  was  preserved 
has  been  destroyed.  The  satirist  Opalinski  (1O09- 
1656)  has  left  some  rough  blank  verse,  devoid 
of  poetical  merit,  but  important  as  illustrating  the 
manners  of  his  time.  In  one  of  his  satires  he  lashes 
unsparingly  the  drunken   habits  of  his  countrymen, 

^'Rozufnieniy  ze  pijanstwo  w  Polsce  zasadzilo 
Swe  gniazdfl.'' 
("  I  think  that  drunkenness   has  made  its  nest  in 

Poland.") 

He  exhibited  a  type  of  character  which  will  be 
found  as  long  as  human  nature  exists  :  that  of  the 
man  who  attitudinizes  as  a  censor  morum,  while  him- 
self of  a  lower  moral  level  than  the  majority  of  his 
fellows.  For  all  his  affected  austerity,  no  greater 
traitor  than  this  worthless  man  appears  in  the  history 
of  his  country.  An  exception  is  also  to  be  made  in 
these  annals  of  dulness  in  the  case  of  Vespasian 
Kochowski,   a   soldier-poet,    who   has    left   us   some 

20 


2go  POLISH   LITERATURE, 

spirited   lyrics.     He  served  in  the  wars  against  the 
Cossacks  and  Swedes. 

The  Macaronic  period  sees  historical  composition 
take  a  retrograde  step.  Instead  of  works  in  the 
vernacular,  we  now  have  the  Latin  chronicles  of 
Piasecki  and  Rudawski.  Paul  Piasecki  was  Bishop 
of  Przemysl,  and  has  given  us  a  history  of  the  reigns 
of  Stephen  Batory,  Sigismund  III.,  and  Wladyslaw, 
his  son.  A  translation  into  Polish  appeared  at 
Cracow  in  1870.  An  indefatigable  author  of  the 
same  time  was  Simon  Starowolski.  He  wrote  in 
Latin  various  histories  and  works  on  philosophy. 
At  a  later  period  of  his  life  he  was  canon  of  the 
cathedral  of  Cracow.  It  is  said  that  Charles  Gustavus 
of  Sweden,  when  he  plundered  that  city  in  1655,  was 
sent  to  sec  the  cathedral,  and  Starowolski  acted  as 
his  guide.  When  he  came  to  the  grave  of  Ladislaus 
Lokietek,  Starowolski  said,  "  This  is  the  tomb  of  a 
king  who,  although  driven  twice  from  the  throne,  yet 
on  both  occasions  got  his  crown  back  again."  Upon 
this  the  proud  Charles  Gustavus,  who  kept  his  hat 
meanwhile  on  his  head,  said,  "  But  your  present  king, 
John  Casimir,  when  once  he  is  driven  from  the 
country,  will  never  come  back  again."  Starowolski 
answered,  "  The  lot  of  man  is  mutable  ;  God  alone 
can  lift  him  up  and  put  him  down."  These  words 
made  such  an  impression  upon  the  king  that  he 
quietly  took  off  his  hat,  and  in  modest  silence  sur- 
veyed the  rest  of  the  monuments.  He  left  the 
valuable  ornaments  which  the  cathedral  contained 
uninjured,  sparing  even  the  silver  shrine  of  St.  Stanis- 
laus.     The    year   after  the    Polish  king  came    back 


MORSZTYN.  291 

into  his  country,  but  Starovvolski  did  not  live  to 
see  it. 

After  this  period  the  use  of  the  Latin  language  in 
Poland  for  literary  composition  gradually  died  out. 
But  it  seems  to  have  been  used,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  for  colloquial  purposes  now  and  then,  and  we 
have  curious  stories  on  this  subject  from  Coxe  and 
vOther  travellers.  Quite  recently  the  Academy  of 
Cracow,  among  its  other  important  publications,  has 
issued  a  series  of  the  works  of  the  Polish  poets  who 
wrote  in  Latin. 

The  valuable  memoirs  of  Pasek,  written  in  Polish, 
have  been  preserved,  and  give  us  a  curious  picture  of 
the  times  ;  they  have  already  been  quoted.  Towards 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  something  of 
French  influence  began  to  be  felt  in  the  country  ; 
we  must  remember  that  the  wife  of  John  Sobieski 
was  a  French  woman,  and  that  the  wife  of  John 
Casimir  had  been  brought  up  at  the  French  Court. 
The  first  tendency  in  this  direction  appears  in  the 
writings  of  Andrew  Morsztyn,  a  traitor  to  his 
countr\',  who  afterwards  died  an  exile  in  France. 
He  translated  the  Cid  of  Corneille  into  Polish,  and 
caught  some  of  the  lighter  graces  of  the  literature 
of  that  land  with  which  he  sympathised  so  much. 
Of  Samuel  Twardowski,  a  voluminous  poet  towards 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  only  work 
which  deserves  mention  is  a  poem  on  the  wars 
between  the  Poles  and  Turks. 

The  eighteenth  century  in  Poland  was  one  of 
political  decay,  as  we  have  already  shown,  and  the 
literature   which    it   produced    harmonises    with    its 


«g2  POLISH   LITERATURE. 

decadence.  Madame  Elizabeth  Druzbacka  (1695- 
1760)  wrote  some  pieces  not  devoid  of  a  feeling  for 
nature,  but  her  Polish  abounds  with  Latinisms.  In 
1765  a  national  theatre  was  founded  at  Warsaw  ;  the 
feeble  and  elegant  Stanislaus  Poniatowski  was  a 
patron  of  such  refinements.  Actors  had  first  ap- 
peared in  the  country  in  the  time  of  John  Casimir. 
A  quaint  story  is  told,  how,  on  one  occasion,  some  of 
the  Polish  spectators  became  so  excited  with  the 
scenic  representation,  that  they  shot  a  volley  of  arrows 
upon  the  stage,  to  the  danger  and  consternation  of 
the  actors.  Religious'  plays  appear  to  have  been 
performed  in  early  times ;  sometimes  in  churches 
and  churchyards.  The  Jesuits  also  composed  plays 
to  be  acted  by  youths  in  grammar  schools.  Quite 
recently  Professor  Bruckner,  of  Berlin,  discovered  in 
the  public  library  of  St.  Petersburg  two  Polish  inter- 
ludes of ,  the  seventeenth  century,  in  which  the 
characters  of  inferior  rank  use  Lithuanian,  just  as 
the  subordinate  persons  in  a  Sanskrit  play  employ 
Prakrit 

A  Polish  Churchill  appeared  in  the  satirist 
W^gierski,  and  in  Krasicki  (1735-1801),  the  friend 
of  Frederick  the  Great,  a  Polish  embodiment  of  a 
French  abbe.  The  so-called  epic  of  the  latter  on 
th:^  war  of  Chocim  is,  as  might  be  expected,  no  epic 
at  all  ;  but  some  of  his  lighter  pieces  and  mock- 
heroics  are  pleasing.  He  wrote,  in  prose,  a  survey 
of  the  various  literatures  of  the  world.  Of  course  he 
finds  Shakspere  a  very  "  incorrect  "  author. 

A  poetaster  at  best  was  Trembecki,  the  laureate  of 
the   Court   of  Stanislaus    Poniatowski,   who,  among 


KILINSKT,  293 

other  productions,  contributes  Zofiowka,  one  of  the 
descriptive  pieces  for  which  the  eighteenth  century 
was  so  famous. 

Valuable  material  for  the  study  of  Polish  history 
at  the  decline  of  her  independence  is  afforded  by  the 
memoirs  of  the  shoemaker,  Jan  Kilinski,  who  played 
an  important  part  in  the  year  1794.  He  fought  in 
all  the  Polish  battles,  and  was  finally  taken  off  to 
St.  Petersburg,  where  he  was  imprisoned.  He  was 
pardoned  by  the  Emperor  Paul,  and  on  his  return  to 
Warsaw  again  betook  himself  to  his  craft  of  shoe- 
maker. Some  years  afterwards  his  "  Recollections  " 
appeared,  and  have  continued  to  be  held  in  esteem, 
both  on  account  of  the  simplicity  of  the  style,  and 
the  air  of  truth  which  pervades  them.  Kilinski  died 
in  the  year  1820.  Valuable  also  are  the  "  Memoirs 
of  Kozmian"  (born  1771,  died  1856J.  He  has  given 
us  true  portraits  of  the  leading  actors  in  the  great 
events  of  his  day.  It  is  characteristic  of  him  that  he 
thoroughly  penetrated  the  hollowness  of  the  promises 
of  Napoleon. 

A  genuine  patriot  was  Stanislaus  Staszic,  who  was 
born  in  1755,  at  Pila  in  Great  Poland,  and  received 
his  education  in  Leipzig,  Gottingen,  and  Paris.  When 
the  kingdom  of  Poland  was  established  at  the  Con- 
gress of  Vienna  he  was  named  minister,  and  his 
career  was  one  of  benevolent  activity :  he  improved 
the  existing  schools  and  established  new  ones,  and 
through  him  the  University  of  Warsaw  assumed  a 
much  more  important  position.  During  his  office,  also, 
new  manufactures  were  introduced  into  the  country; 
^n  Institute  fpr  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  was  founded,  a 


294  POLISH   LITERATURE. 

Conservatory  for  Music,  and  a  School  of  Engineering'. 
No  man  did  more  to  advance  the  condition  of  tlie 
country  in  its  decline.  He  died  on  January  21,  1826. 
A  patriot  also  was  Hugh  Koll^taj  (the  name  to 
adapt  it  to  Western  pronunciation  is  sometimes 
written  Kollontaj).  He  was  born  in  1750,  in  the 
palatinate  of  Sandomir,  studied  in  Cracow,  then  took 
orders  and  went  to  Ro:ne,  to  study  theology  and 
ecclestiastical  law.  For  three  years  he  was  Rector 
of  the  Academy  of  Cracow,  which  he  raised  to  a  high 
state  of  efficiency,  and  was  afterwards  made  Chancellc^r 
of  the  Crown.  During  the  celebrated  four  years'  diet 
he  displayed  extraordinary  activity.  In  speeches  full 
of  eloquence  he  advocated  reforms,  and  showed  the 
possibility  of  maintaining  a  standing  army  of  6o,O0J 
men  without  a  considerable  outlay  ;  he  wished  for  a 
reorganisation  of  the  government  of  the  country  and 
its  ministers.  Such  reforms  might  perhaps  even  then 
have  saved  Poland.  He  longed  to  do  away  with  the 
curse  of  serfdom,  and  to  give  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity a  share  in  public  affairs.  This  grant  of 
citizenship  to  all  members  of  the  State  had  ten  yearsr 
earlier  been  recommended  tb  the  Poles  by  Jean 
Jacques  Rousseau,  who  had  been  consulted  on  the 
subject  by  some  patriots.  Even  at  the  present  day 
one  reads  with  astonishment  of  the  boldness  with 
which  Koll^taj  spoke  against  the  deeply-rooted 
prejudices  of  the  all-powerful  nobility.  These  foolish 
men  showed  their  traditional  selfishness  ;  they  were 
preparing  the  ruin  of  their  country.  Especially  did 
this  fine  patriot  devote  himself  to  education,  and  it 
was  to  his  strenuous  efforts  that  its  progress  in  the 


RZEWUSKI.  295 

country  at  that  time  is  to  be  attributed.  He  was 
convinced  that  the  system  upon  which  the  republic 
was  based,  with  the  election  of  its  kings  and  other 
anomalies,  could  no  longer  be  maintained,  being  an 
absolute  anachronism  among  the  nations  of  Europe. 
It  would  be  useless  to  apply  mild  remedies  to  such 
diseases  ;  the  root  of  the  evil  was  the  elective  system  : 
he,  therefore,  proposed  to  make  the  king  hereditary. 
In  this  opinion  he  was  supported  by  many  intelligent 
and  educated  men.  But  he  found  opponents,  who 
would  not  hear  of  any  curtailment  of  this  privilege  of 
the'  nobility.  Severyn  Rzewuski,  hetman  of  the 
Crown,  answered  him  in  a  pamphlet  on  the  succession 
in  Poland,  in  which  he  contended  for  the  old  privilege 
of  election.  He  brings  forward  Franklin  and  Washing- 
ton as  the  heroes  of  liberty  against  hereditary 
sovereignty,  of  which  he  says,  giving  the  lie  to  his 
fine-sounding  phrases  about  liberty,  that  such  an 
institution  might  lessen  the  privileges  of  the  nobility, 
and  even  make  it  possible  for  a  peasant  to  bring  a 
nobleman  before  a  court  of  justice ! 

It  will  be  remembered  from  a  previous  chapter  that 
this  Severyn  Rzewuski  was  one  of  the  members  of  the 
infamous  confederation  of  Targowica,  who  sold  their 
country  in  1792. 

On  reading  the  letters  of  Kollg.taj  it  is  impossible 
to  say  with  what  we  are  most  struck :  the  sharp- 
sighted  views  of  the  man  and  his  grasp  of  the 
situation,  or  the  blindness  of  his  opponents,  who 
still  haggled  while  their  enemies  were  all  round 
them.  Perhaps,  as  Herr  Nitschmann  says,  to  whom 
we  are  indebted  for  many  just  remarks   upon   this 


296  POLISH  LITERATURE, 

interesting  man,  he  was  too  fond  of  extreme  measures, 
and  too  much  of  a  democrat  !  But  this  was  no  time 
t(^  borrow  the  expression  of  the  ancients,  to  sing  in- 
cantations over  a  disease  which  demanded  the  knife. 
On  the  day  of  the  storming  of  Praga,  when  Koll^taj 
saw  that  all  hope  was  lost,  he  departed  to  Galicia, 
but  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Austrian  authorities 
in  the  palatinate  of  Sandomir,  and  imprisoned  at 
Olmlitz,  where  he  remained  eight  years  in  confine- 
ment, only  obtaining  his  release  in  1803.  Even 
when  he  regained  his  liberty  he  could  not  recover 
his  lost  property.  He  now  played  no  further  political 
part,  but  betook  himself  to  writing.  He  died  on 
February  28,  18 12.  His  historical  and  political 
works  are  not  much  remembered,  but  he  has  earned 
for  himself  an  ever-enduring  record  in  the  pages 
of  Polish  history.  One  of  the  most  active  of  his 
coadjutors  was  the  Priest  Jezierski,  who  wrote  many 
severe  satires  on  the  political  anomalies  of  his  country. 

But  the  literature  of  independent  Poland  was  now 
finished.  She  was  to  have  a  greater  and  more 
original  literature,  but  it  was  to  be  that  of  proscrip- 
tion and  exile.  The  old  pseudo-classical  school  of 
poetry,  as  it  has  been  not  inaptly  styled,  was  now  on 
the  wane  throughout  Europe ;  the  Romantic  school 
was  to  begin.  We  are  obliged  to  omit  the  less 
conspicuous  names  in  this  new  school,  although 
perhaps  a  word  may  be  said  about  Casimir  Brod- 
zinski,  author  of  a  pleasing  idyl,  Wieslaw  who  also 
translated  into  Polish  many  of  the  Latin  poems  of 
Jan  Kochanowski. 

The    reputation   of    Julian    Niemcewicz,    once   so 


NIEMCEWICZ.  297 

widely  spread  among  his  countrymen,  has  not  been 
maintained  as  an  author;  still  it  would  not  be  pos- 
sible to  omit  all  mention  of  a  man  who  played  such 
an  important  part  in  his  country's  history.  He  was 
born  in  Lithuania  in  1758.  During  his  protracted 
life  he  was  first  adjutant  of  Kosciuszko  ;  then  his 
companion  in  captivity  at  St.  Petersburg ;  afterwards 
secretary  to  the  Polish  Senate,  and  lastly  president 
of  the  Royal  Scientific  Society  of  his  country.  He 
died  as  an  emigre  d^t  Paris  in  1841.  Besides  all  these 
public  services,  discharged  in  the  most  critical  days 
of  Poland's  history,  Niemcewicz  was  a  very  prolific 
author.  He  wrote  novels,  plays,  odes,  epigrams, 
fables,  and  translated  a  great  deal  from  English, 
among  other  works  Pope's  "  Rape  of  the  Lock." 
His  patriotic  comedy,  "  The  Return  of  the  Deputy," 
was  first  played  on  the  15th  of  January,  1791,  at 
Warsaw,  and  had  great  success.  It  was  to  the  credit 
of  Niemcewicz  that  he  endeavoured  to  interest  his 
countrymen  in  the  condition  of  the  peasant.  In  the 
year  1788,  when  elected  a  deputy  in  the  four-years' 
diet,  he  defended  the  rights  of  the  burghers  and  serfs. 
On  the  ruin  of  his  country  he  retired  to  America, 
where  he  lived  ten  years  and  married  a  rich  widow. 
In  1807  he  returned  to  Warsaw,  but  left  it  after  1813, 
and  did  not  revisit  it  till  the  establishment  of  the 
kingdom  of  Poland.  It  was  during  this  period  that 
he  composed  his  historical  songs,  Spiewy  Historycz- 
ne)^  which  it  would,  perhaps,  be  unfair  to  criticise 
from  a  mere  poetical  point  of  view,  as  they  are 
written  mainly  in  a  weak,  sentimental  style.  They 
had,  however,  an  immense  effect  at  the  time,  and  arc 


298  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

still  popular  among  the  Poles.  They  roused  the 
spirit  of  dormant  patriotism  by  presenting  the  most 
salient  epochs  of  Polish  history. 

Niemcewicz  vigorously  supported  the  insurrection 
of  1830;  when  it  had  failed  he  was  again  obliged  to 
leave  his  country.  He  was  then  seventy- four  years 
of  age,  but  he  survived  ten  years  longer.  Shortly 
before  his  death  he  composed  the  following  pathetic 
epitaph  for  himself: — 

•'  Wygnancy,  co  tak  dlugo  bladzicie  po  swiecie, 
Kiedyz  znuzonym  stopom  spoczynek  znajdziecie? 
Dziki  gol^b  ma  gniazdo,  robak  ziemi  bryl^ 
Kazdy  c/lowiek  ojczyzn?,  a  Polak  mogile." 

(**  O  ye  exiles,  who  so  long  wander  over  the  world, 

Where  will  ye  find  a  resting  place  for  your  weary  steps  ? 
The  wild  dove  has  its  nest,  and  the  worm  a  clod  of  earth, 
Each  man  a  country,  but  the  Pole  a  grave  !") 

We  now  come  to  Adam  Mickiewicz,  the  greatest 
poet  whom  Poland  has  produced. 

He  was  born  at  Nowogrodek,  near  Wilno  in  1798, 
and  was  educated  at  the  university  of  the  latter  place, 
which  we  have  spoken  of  as  having  been  founded  by 
Stephen  Batory.  Owing  to  the  discovery  of  some 
secret  societies  which  had  been  formed  there  among 
the  students,  he  was  sent  to  live  as  a  kind  of  hostage 
in  Russia,  and  while  in  that  country  visited  the 
Crimea,  to  which  he  consecrated  some  beautiful 
sonnets.  He  left  Russia  in  1829,  having  obtained 
permission  from  the  government  to  travel  ;  but  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  never  to  return,  and  soon 
afterwards  took  up  his  residence  in  Paris.  Before 
leaving   the  country  of  his  exile   he   published    his 


N^ 


ADAM    MICKIEWICZ. 


30O  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

Konrad  Wallenrod,  a  story  in  verse  of  the  ven- 
geance taken  by  the  Lithuanians  upon  their  Teutonic 
oppressors.  As  a  specimen  of  the  manner  of  Mickie- 
wicz  we  will  here  find  space  for  a  short  lyric  from  the 
last- mentioned  poem  : — 

WILIA. 

il  \  river  of  Lithuania,  which  flows  by  Kovno,  and  empties  itself  into 
the  Niemen.] 

Our  Wilia,  the  mother  of  wild  forest-torrents, 

Rolls  sands  of  pure  gold  'neath  her  clear  azure  currents  ; 

But  purer  in  heart  is  our  Litva's  fair  daughter, 

And  brighter  in  cheek  as  she  drinks  of  the  water. 

'Mid  the  sweet  vales  of  Kovno  our  Wilia  is  flowing ; 
Around  her  narcissi  and  tulips  are  growing. 
But  gayer  than  roses'  or  tulips'  proud  splendour, 
At  the  Litvinka's  feet  are  the  youths  that  attend  her. 

These  vales  which  the  flowers  with  their  soft  beauty  corer. 

How  Wilia  despises  for  Niemen  her  lover  ! 

The  Litvinka  is  sad,  and  she  slights  every  maiden ; 

For  a  youth  that's  a  stranger  her  heart  is  love-laden. 

Niemen  with  arms  of  wild  force,  as  a  giant 

On  its  cold  wintry  breast  its  young  lover  doth  pillow  ; 

Then  hurries  her  onward,  triumphant,  defiant. 

And  sinks  with  her  lost  in  the  sea's  maddened  billow. 

And  thee,  sweet  Litvinka,  the  harsh  fates  shall  sever 

From  thy  dear  native  vales,  the  wild  haunts  of  thy  gladness  5 

Absorbed  in  the  gulf  of  oblivion's  dark  river, 

Thou  shall  perish  alone  !  thou  shalt  fade  in  thy  sadness 

Madden'd  stream,  madden'd  heart,  'tis  in  vain  one  deploreth 
Wilia  speeds,  and  the  maid  with  love's  spell  is  o'ertaken; 
Wilia  is  lost  in  the  Niemen  she  adoreth. 
And  the  maiden  laments  in  the  lone  tower  forsaken. 

As   a    Lithuanian    by  birth   Mickiewicz   naturally 
turned  to  the  legends  of  his  own  country,  and  in  the 


MICKIEWICZ.  301 

beautiful  poem  of  Grazyna  we  have  another  piece 
on  the  wars  between  the  knights  and  their  heathen 
adversaries.  This  poem  is  said  to  have  inspired  the 
brave  EmiHa  Plater,  who  was  the  heroine  of  the 
Revolution  of  1830,  and  after  having  fought  in  the 
ranks  of  the  insurgents  found  a  grave  in  the  forests 
of  Lithuania.  One  of  the  largest  and  most  cele- 
brated pieces  of  Mickiewicz  is  his  Pan  Tadeusz, 
by  many  considered  his  masterpiece,  written  in  the 
year  1834.  In  this  production  we  have  a  picture  of 
Polish  life  at  the  time  of  the  expedition  of  Napoleon 
to  Russia  in  181 2.  Together  with  a  slender  love 
story,  which  is  a  necessary  ingredient  of  all  tales, 
Mickiewicz  has  given  us  a  picture  of  the  homes  of 
the  Polish  magnates,  with  their  old-fashioned  and 
somewhat  boisterous  hospitality.  The  family  feuds, 
the  patriarchal  manners,  the  luxury  of  the  nobles, 
the  Jews,  and  peasants,  are  all  brought  before  us. 
To  Mickiewicz  it  was  a  labour  of  love  to  describe  the 
customs  and  scenes  of  his  native  Lithuania,  to  which 
he  ever  cast  the  longing  eyes  of  an  exile.  The 
whole  poem  is  steeped  in  the  most  delightful  de- 
scriptions of  scenery,  in  which  Mickiewicz  showed 
his  greatest  power.  We  do  not  consider  him  one  whit 
inferior  to  Wordsworth  or  Shelley  in  his  splendid 
cloud  and  forest  pictures.  Lithuania  is  the  land  of 
forests,  and  in  that  country  in  old  times  the  trees 
were  held  sacred.  He  has  described  all  the  weird 
sights  and  sounds  which  are  to  be  met  with  in  the 
recesses  of  these  primeval  woods.  We  agree  with 
him  when  he  introduces  his  hero  Thaddeus,  as 
railing  at  the  monotony  of  Italian  skies  : — 


302  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

"  I  mial  rozum,  zawolal  Tadeusz  z  zapalem 
Te  pantswa  niebo  wloskie,  jak  o  niem  slyszalem 
Blekitne,  czyste,  wszak  to  jak  zamarzla  woda. 
Czyz  nie  pi^kniejsze  stokroc  wialr  i  niepogoda." 

('*  *  And  he  was  right,'  cried  Thaddeus,  with  warmth. 
*  For  that  Italian  sky  of  yours,  as  I  have  heard  of  it, 
So  blue  and  pure,  is  just  like  frozen  water. 
Are  not  wind  and  storm  a  hundred  times  more  beautiful  ? '  ") 

After  his  marriage  in  1834,  Mickiewicz  wrote  no 
more  poetry  ;  his  muse  was  perhaps  silenced  by  the 
hard  duties  of  every-day  Hfe.  The  poet  was  very 
poor,  and  had  difficulty  in  maintaining  himself  and 
family.  In  1839  he  received  a  call  to  Lausanne  as 
professor  of  classical  literature  ;  but  before  he  had 
been  a  year  in  his  new  vocation,  he  was  brought  back 
to  Paris  by  the  offer  of  a  Slavonic  professorship  in  the 
College  de  France,  which  had  been  recently  founded. 
Since  the  death  of  Pushkin,  he  was  the  undoubted 
head  of  Slavonic  literature,  and  therefore  the  position 
seemed  peculiarly  appropriate.  He  delivered  his 
lectures  at  first  to  a  large  and  appreciative  audience, 
but  they  cannot  be  said  to  have  added  to  his  reputa- 
tion. In  the  first  place,  he  was  but  imperfectly 
acquainted  with  Slavonic  literature  outside  of  Polish; 
of  the  other  Slavonic  languages  he  knew  but  little 
besides  Russian,  and  of  Russian  Hterature  nothing 
since  the  death  of  Pushkin,  who  in  earlier  days  had 
been  his  intimate  friend.  The  lectures  are  also  dis- 
figured by  many  fantastic  derivations  of  words,  which 
prove  too  clearly,  how  little  scientific  method  was  to 
be  found  in  the  poet's  philological  studies.  Still 
Mickiewicz  had  a  name  which  worked  like  a  spell  on 
his  countrymen,  and  he  might  have  continued  with 


MICKIEWICZ.  303 

much  popularity  in  his  office  to  give  his  audience 
magnificent  aesthetic  critiques  and  improvisations, 
such  as  those  in  which  he  excelled,  had  he  not  fallen  a 
prey  to  the  visionary  ideas  of  a  certain  fanatic,  named 
Towianski.  Owing  to  the  influence  of  this  man,  he 
became  a  religious  mystic,  and  one  part  of  his  creed 
was,  the  belief  that  the  Napoleonic  family  was 
destined  to  furnish  the  Messiah  of  the  Polish  nation, 
who  would  deliver  them  from  the  house  of  bondage. 
As  his  lectures  were  filled  with  these  speculations  he 
became  obnoxious  to  the  Government  and  was  removed 
from  his  office.  This  was  a  great  blow  to  him ;  he  was  a 
man  of  simple  habits,  but  with  a  wife  and  six  children 
to  maintain,  his  position  became  very  precarious. 
His  wife,  moreover,  was  a  constant  invalid,  and 
became  ultimately  insane,  so  that  the  poor  poet  had 
not  the  pleasures  of  a  happy,  if  simple,  household. 
We  have  now  a  portrait  of  him,  wasted  and  stricken, 
but  still  retaining  something  of  his  old  fire.  He  was 
invited  to  undertake  the  editorship  of  a  French  news- 
paper. La  Tribune  des  Peiiples,  which  was  established  in 
the  earlier  days  of  the  Republic,  but  was  not  destined 
to  last  long.  The  Russian  socialist,  Herzen,  in  his 
interesting  memoirs,  published  in  the  "Polar  Star" 
{Poliarnaia  Zviezdci)^  has  described  the  dinner  which 
was  given  at  Paris,  to  celebrate  the  foundation  of  this 
journal,  on  which  occasion  he  first  met  the  poet.  The 
account  is  so  interesting  in  its  details,  and  .  brings 
Mickiewicz  so  vividly  before  us,  that  our  readers  will 
probably  be  glad  to  have  a  translation  of  a  portion  of 
it :  — "  When  I  arrived,"  says  Herzen,  *T  found  already 
a  good  number  of  guests   assembled,  among  whom 


304  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

there  was  hardly  a  single  Frenchman  ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  various  nations,  from  Sicilians  to  Croats, 
were  well  represented.  One  person  especially  in- 
terested me,  Adam  Mickiewicz  ;  I  had  never  seen  him 
before.  He  stood  by  the  fireplace,  leaning  with  his 
elbow  on  the  mantelpiece.  .  .  .  Much  care  and  suffering 
were  expressed  in  his  face,  which  was  Lithuanian 
rather  than  Polish,  The  general  impression  produced 
by  his  appearance,  especially  by  his  head  with  its 
abundant  grey  hair  and  his  weary  look,  was  ex- 
perience of  unhappiness,  familiarity  with  mental 
distress,  trouble  amounting  almost  to  madness — the 
very  embodiment  of  the  fate  of  Poland.  Something 
seemed  to  restrain,  to  pre-occupy,  to  distract  Mickie- 
wicz. This  was  his  extraordinary  mysticism,  in  which 
he  was  now  further  and  further  advancing.  I  went 
to  him,  and  he  began  to  interrogate  me  about  Russia. 
His  intercourse  with  the  country  had  been  interrupted. 
He  knew  but  little  of  the  literary  movement  since  the 
days  of  Pushkin  :  he  had  stopped  at  the  year  when  he 
left  Russia.  In  spite  of  his  fundamental  idea  of  the 
fraternal  union  of  all  the  Slavonic  peoples,  an  idea 
which  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  develop,  there  re- 
mained in  him  something  of  a  feeling  unfriendly  to 
Russia.  .  .  .  Ch.  [The  name  of  Herzen's  friend 
which  he  does  not  give  in  full]  told  me  that  at  the 
dinner  he  would  propose  a  toast  to  the  memory  of 
the  24th  of  February,  1848,  and  that  Mickiewicz 
would  give  a  reply  in  which  he  would  enunciate  the 
programme  of  the  future  journal.  He  wished  me  as 
a  Russian,  to  answer  Mickiewicz.  Not  being  in  the 
habit  of  speaking  publicly,  and  especially  since  I  had 


MICKIEWICZ.  305 

made    no    preparation    I    declined    his   request,    but 
promised  to  propose  the  health   of  Mickievvicz,  and 
to  add  a  few  words  to  it,  stating  the  circumstances 
under  which   I   had   first  drunk  it.     At  Moscow,  at 
a   public   dinner   given    to   Granovski   [a   celebrated 
professor  of  history,  and  intimate  friend  of  Turgue- 
niev,  the  novelist],  in  1843,  one  of  the  guests  raised  his 
glass  with  the  words :  '  To  the  health  of  the  great 
Slavonic  poet,  who  is   now  absent'      There  was  no 
need  of  mentioning  the  name.  .  .  .    All  rose,  lifted  up 
their  glasses  and  standing,  drank   in  silence  to  the 
health   of  the    exile.      Ch.    was    satisfied.       Having 
arranged  our  extempore  speeches  in  such  a  manner 
we  sat  down  to  dinner.     At  the  close  Ch.  proposed 
his  toast :  Mickiewicz  thereupon  rose  and  began  to 
speak.       His    discourse    was    elaborate,    clever,    and 
extremely   adroit,  i.e.,    Barbes    and   Louis    Napoleon 
might  have  publicly  applauded  it ;    I  began  to  feel 
disgusted   at   it.     The  more  he  developed  his  ideas, 
the  more  I  felt  something  oppressive,  and  waited  for 
just    one    word,   one  name,  so  that    there    might  be 
no  doubt.     It  was    not  slow  in   making  its  appear- 
ance.     Mickiewicz  at  length  proceeded    to  say  that 
democracy    is    now    taking   a    new  position,   at   the 
head   of    which    is    France.      That    she    will    again 
rouse  herself  to  the  rescue  of  all  oppressed  peoples 
under  those  eagles  and   those  flags,  at  the  sight  of 
which  all  emperors  and  governments  had  trembled, 
and  that  they  will  be  again  led  forward  by  one  of 
the   members    of    that    dynasty,    crowned    by    the 
people,    which    has   been    appointed    as   it   were   by 
Providence  jtself,  to  carry  on  the  revolution  in  the 

21 


306  POLISH   LITERATURE, 

regular  path  of  authority  and  victory.  When  he 
had  finished,  with  the  exception  of  some  slight 
applause  from  his  supporters,  there  was  a  general 
silence.  Ch.  saw  clearly  the  mistake  which 
Mickiewicz  had  made,  and  wishing  to  remove  the 
effects  of  the  speech  as  soon  as  possible,  came  up 
with  a  bottle,  and  pouring  out  a  glass,  whispered 
to  me,  '  What  are  you  going  to  do  ?  '  'I  will  not 
say  a  word  after  that  speech.'  '  I  entreat  you  to 
say  something.'  '  Not  on  any  consideration.' 
The  pause  continued ;  some  fixed  their  eyes  on 
their  plates ;  others  continually  looked  at  their 
glasses,  and  others  maintained  private  conversations 
with  their  neighbours.  Mickiewicz  changed  coun- 
tenance and  wished  to  say  something,  but  a  loud, 
'Je  dtinande  la  parole'  was  heard,  and  put  an  end 
to  the  disagreeable  state  of  affairs.  All  turned  to 
the  person  who  rose.  A  little  old  man  of  seventy 
years  of  age,  entirely  grey,  with  a  strikingly  energetic 
expression  in  his  face,  stood  up,  with  a  glass  in  his 
trembling  hand  ;  in  his  large  black  eyes  and  troubled 
countenance  anger  and  displeasure  were  written.  It 
was  Ramon  de  la  Sagra.  '  To  the  twenty-fourth  of 
February,'  he  said,  '  that  was  the  toast  which  our 
host  proposed.  Yes,  to  the  twenty-fourth  of  February, 
and  to  the  destruction  of  every  kind  of  despotism, 
whether  it  be  called  regal  or  imperial,  Bourbon,  or 
Bonaparte.  I  do  not  share  the  opinions  of  our 
friend  Mickiewicz.  He  looks  upon  things  as  a  poet, 
and  may  be  right  from  his  own  point  of  view,  but 
I  cannot  allow  his  words  to  pass  without  a  protest 
in  such  a  meeting  as  this.'     And  he  continued  in  the 


MICKIFAVICZ.  307 

same  strain  with  all  the  fervour  of  a  Spaniard  and 
the  authority  of  his  seventy  years.  When  he  had 
finished,  twenty  hands,  my  own  among  the  number, 
were  stretched  out  to  him  with  their  glasses. 
Mickiewicz  wished  to  justify  himself,  and  said  some 
words  by  way  of  explanation,  but  they  were  not 
successful.  De  la  Sagra  would  not  give  in.  Finally, 
all  rose  from  the  table,  and  Mickiewicz  went 
out." 

It  was  not  until  1848  that  the  poet  entirely  freed 
himself  from  Towianski.  He  remained  in  poverty 
and  neglect  till  1852,  when  Prince  Napoleon  procured 
for  him  the  modest  post  of  librarian  at  the  Arsenal. 
Mickiewicz  continued  till  his  death  a  staunch 
adherent  of  the  Imperial  family,  but  his  confidence 
in  its  members  was  destined  to  receive  some  rude 
shocks.  The  last  production  of  the  great  Polish 
poet  cannot  be  called  worthy  of  his  genius.  Follow- 
ing the  tradition  of  Kochanowski,  Sarbiewski,  and 
others  in  using  Latin,  he  addressed  an  ode  in  that 
language  to  Napoleon  III.,  on  the  taking  of  Bomar- 
sund.  The  poem  is  a  poor  one,  leaving  out  of  all 
consideration  its  completely  anachronistic  treat- 
ment. In  1855  Mickiewicz  was  sent  by  the  French 
Government  to  Constantinople  on  a  mission  partly 
literary  and  partly  political.  On  the  one  hand,  he 
was  to  procure  some  information  about  the  Christians 
under  Turkish  rule,  the  state  of  education  among 
them  (heaven  save  the  mark  !),  and  the  manuscripts 
to  be  found  in  libraries.  On  the  other,  he  was  to 
assist  in  raising  a  Polish  legion,  in  the  pay  of 
Turkey,   to  serve  against   Russia.     The  commission 


308  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

given  by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  to 
Mickiewicz  is  indeed  a  curious  document,  and  shows 
how  little  the  condition  of  Turkey  and  the  East 
generally  was  understood  at  that  time.  To  us, 
reading  it  in  the  light  of  later  events,  it  might  be 
a  document  a  century  old.  It  will  explain  to  a 
younger  generation,  not  contemporary  with  the  war, 
how  the  Anglo-French  alliance  with  the  Turks  was 
a  possibility.  It  must  be  declared  in  all  frankness 
that  whatever  was  to  be  done  for  the  Christians  in 
the  East  could  never  be  accomplished  by  Polish 
agency.  This  is  said  in  no  depreciation  of  this 
gallant  and  chivalrous  people.  The  strong  religious 
barriers  which  separate  such  Ultramontanists  as 
the  Poles  from  all  sympathy  with  the  Serbs  and 
Bulgarians,  their  Orthodox  brethren,  would  alone 
prevent  it.  M.  de  Vogue,  in  one  of  his  clever  essays, 
has  admirably  sketched  the  Polish  attitude  in  Slavonic 
questions  ;  with  the  Russian  his  conflicts  have  been 
for  centuries  both  political  and  religious  ;  towards 
the  other  Slavonic  countries  in  their  national  struggles 
he  wears  an  air  of  haughty  reserve,  like  a  broken 
aristocrat  compelled  to  share  the  shabby  gentility  of 
parvenus.  But  we  must  remember,  in  justice,  that 
we  have  to  do  with  a  proud  and  manly  race  which 
has  suffered  many  mortifications.  Nothing,  it  may 
be  honestly  said,  could  have  been  expected  for  the 
Slavs  from  the  poet's  mission,  but  it  was  destined  to 
end  in  the  saddest  way  for  Mickiewicz  himself  He 
was  now  a  widower,  and  confiding  his  children  to  the 
care  of  their  aunt,  was  anxious  to  escape  awhile 
from  his    melancholy  surroundings.     On   September 


MICKIEWICZ,  309 

II,  1855,  Mickiewicz  parted  with  his  family,  having 
as  companion  a  Pole  named  Henry  Sluzalski  ;  a 
French  friend,  Armand  Levy,  who  has  given  us 
some  interesting  letters,  joined  him  on  the  way. 
Gn  the  23rd  of  September  the  party  was  already 
at  Constantinople.  The  letters  furnish  all  the  old 
impressions  de  voyage  about  that  city,  which  have 
now  become  so  stale.  It  is  the  old  story  of  the 
splendid  panorama  and  the  disgust  caused  by  the 
dirty  streets.  The  poet  was  brought  into  connexion 
with  some  of  the  Polish  officers  in  the  service  of  the 
Sultan  who  had  turned,  or  affected  to  have  turned, 
Mussulmans,  among  others  Ilinski,  who  fought  at 
Silistria,  and  went  under  the  name  of  Iskinder  Pasha. 
Some  extraordinary,  and  by  no  means  creditable, 
stories  are  told  of  him  and  his  bashi-bazouks^  as  the 
irregular  troops  of  the  Turks  were  called.  The 
wretched  man,  unable  to  get  assimilated  to  the 
barbarism  which  he  saw  around  him  and  be  con- 
tented, seems  to  have  done  little  but  drink  and 
gamble.  In  order  to  lull  the  suspicions  of  the 
Turks,  who  doubted  him,  as  the  Egyptians  did 
Napoleon  I.,  when  he  declared  himself  to  be  a 
Mussulman,  Ilinski  carried  a  little  flask  of  brandy 
in  a  case  made  to  look  like  that  which  a  Turk  uses 
to  carry  his  Koran.  Thus,  while  pretending  to  pray 
and  kiss  the  sacred  volume  devoutly,  he  had  an 
opportunity  of  drinking  at  a  secret  hole  in  the  box. 
Verily  misery  makes  a  man  acquainted  with  strange 
bed -fellows ! 

The  son  of  Mickiewicz,  while  writing  about  these 
strange  adventures  in  his  life  of  his  father,  attempts 


310  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

a  few  palliative  expressions,  but  is  not  very  successful 
in  his  task.  No  doubt  many  Franks  in  the  service 
of  the  Sultan  are  playing  the  same  tricks  now.  We 
know  that  Bonneval,  who  became  a  Turkish  pasha 
last  century,  and  lies  buried  at  Pera,  with  a  most 
pious  epitaph  on  his  tomb,  used  to  write  letters  to 
his  friend  Voltaire,  lavishing  all  a  Frenchman's  wit 
in  derision  of  the  superstitions  of  Islam,  to  which  he 
appeared  to  conform.  The  health  of  the  poet  was 
at  first  excellent,  although  he  had  to  submit  to  many 
inconveniences,  and  being  poor  had  to  content  him- 
self with  humble  lodgings.  On  the  ist  of  November 
Levy  writes  :  *'  We  are  going  to  see  a  little  house 
which  we  have  taken  at  the  end  of  Pera,  with  a  view 
on  the  Bosphorus  and  a  room  for  each  of  us.  We 
are  getting  quite  aristocratic  ;  Henry  says  wonderful 
things  of  our  new  domicile.  I  have  not  yet  seen  it, 
but  I  will  tell  you  something  about  that  which  we 
are  just  leaving — a  single  room,  and  one  of  us  located 
in  each  of  the  three  corners  ;  the  door  occupies  the 
fourth  corner  ;  a  mattress  or  carpet  to  lie  on  ;  our 
cloaks  for  a  counterpane  ;  our  trunks  for  a  table  to 
eat  upon,  and  your  father's  furnishes  a  sofa  for 
visitors." 

On  the  4th  of  November,  however,  he  writes  :  "  I 
told  you  in  my  last  letter  that  we  were  going  to  take  a 
pretty  little  house  all  to  ourselves.  Everything  was 
settled.  The  proprietor  was  delighted,  when  sud- 
dently  the  mollahs  (the  Turkish  priests  of  the  locality) 
began  to  make  a  noise  about  it.  '  But  they  are  Mag- 
yars, like  myself,'  said  Colonel  Kuczynski,  a  Hun- 
garian   in   the   Turkish    service.     'But    thou    art    a 


MICKIEWICZ.  311 

Giaoiirl  was  their  answer.  (In  reality  he  had  only 
assumed  a  fez  and  Turkish  name,  but  not  the  reli- 
gion.) *  Thy  servant  is  a  Giaour,  and  thy  wife  goes 
out  unveiled.'  In  comes  Colonel  Osman-bey,  a  good 
Pole  and  a  complete  Turk,  who  says  :  '  Let  us  come 
and  see  the  Pasha  of  our  district.'  He  goes.  They 
tell  him  that  the  Franks  are  pushing  everywhere. 
To  which  the  other  answers  :  '  You  fool  !  When  the 
Franks  have  got  you  by  the  beard,  do  you  dispute 
with  them  a  single  hair  ? '  '  Well,  then,  let  the 
Franks  come.'  But  the  Turks  replied  :  '  We  prefer 
leaving  the  district,'  and  so  they  have  done  in  more 
than  one  part  of  the  city.  Each  time  that  the  Franks 
have  arrived  in  large  numbers  they  have  deserted  it, 
preferring  to  leave  their  dwelh'ngs  rather  than  endure 
the  sight  of  rayaJts,  infidels  without  veils  and  tur- 
bans, and  so  we  must  give  up  our  house ! " 

Finally,  on  the  8th  of  November  he  writes  to  say 
that  they  were  established  in  a  tolerably  clean  little 
house  at  the  end  of  one  of  the  streets  of  Pera.  But 
the  lane  in  which  the  poet  had  taken  up  his  quarters 
was  a  narrow  and  dirty  one,  and  the  cholera  was 
raging  at  Constantinople.  "  The  cholera,"  adds  the 
son  in  the  memoirs  of  his  father,  "  is  in  a  sort  accli- 
matised at  Constantinople.  Its  ravages  may  increase 
or  decrease  in  intensity,  but  it  never  disappears 
entirely." 

Mickiewicz  is  said  to  have  been  in  very  depressed 
spirits  on  account  of  the  dissensions  among  his 
countrymen  and  the  presentiment  which  he  felt  that 
France  would  abandon  Poland  at  the  treaty  which 
would   soon    be   signed    by   the    European    Powers. 


312  POLISH  LITERATURE, 

After  a  short  illness  he  died  of  cholera  on  the  26th 
of  November.  His  remains,  according  to  his  last 
wishes,  were  brought  back  to  Paris  and  laid  in  the 
cemetery  at  Montmorency  by  the  side  of  his  wife.  A 
beautiful  funeral  oration  was  pronounced  over  his 
grave  by  Bohdan  Zaleski,  who  has  himself  since 
joined  the  majority.  But  this  was  not  to  be  the  final 
resting-place  of  the  poet.  In  1890  his  remains  were 
disinterred,  and  brought  to  Cracow,  now  the  centre  of 
Polish  life,  and  there  buried  among  others  of  Poland's 
greatest  and  worthiest  sons  in  the  cathedral,  the  Santa 
Croce  of  fallen  Sarmatia.  The  streets  of  the  pictu- 
resque old  city  were  thronged  with  pilgrims,  who  had 
come  from  all  parts  of  Europe.  Many  not  being 
able  to  find  accommodation  in  the  hotels  passed  the 
night  in  the  streets.  An  interesting  feature  in  these 
vast  crowds  was  the  presence  of  so  many  peasants 
from  the  villages.  For  that  day  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment relaxed  the  passport  system,  and  the  funeral 
was  attended  by  many  Russian  Poles.  We  can  thus 
see  how  thoroughly  Mickiewicz  has  become  the 
representative  poet  of  his  country,  and,  with  the 
single  exception  of  Pushkin,  the  greatest  of  the 
Slavonic  race. 

Since  his  death  the  romantic  school,  of  which  he 
may  be  said  to  have  been  the  founder  among  the 
Poles,  has  been  further  developed  by  the  so-called 
Ukraine  poets,  especially  Zaleski,  Malczewski,  Gosz- 
czynski,  and  Slowacki.  The  first  is  the  writer  of  an 
elegant  poem,  Duc/i  od  Stepu  ("  The  Spirit  of  the 
Steppe").  The  inspiration  is  altogether  from  the 
Ukraine,  one  of  the  most  picturesque  parts  of  Russia, 


MALCZEWSKI,  313 

once,  we  must  remember,  belonging  to  Poland,  and 
still  numbering  many  inhabitants  vvho  speak  the 
Polish  language.     It  is  thus  that  Zaleski  writes : — 

*'  I  mnie  matka  Ukraina, 
I  mnie  matka  swego  syna, 
Upowila  w  piesn  u  lona 
Czarodziejka." 

("  Me  also  has  my  mother,  the  Ukraine, 
Me  her  son 

Cradled  in  song  on  her  bosom, 
The  enchantress.") 

Anton  Malczewski  (i 793-1 826),  who  died  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-three,  wrote  one  poem,  Marya, 
which  attracted  but  little  attention  at  the  time  of  its 
publication,  but  after  its  author's  death  attained  a 
wide  popularity.  The  opening  verses  are  remarkably 
spirited.  The  following  translation  will  perhaps  give 
some  idea  of  them  : — 


Cossack  on  thy  flying  steed,  whither  art  thou  bounding  ? 
Is't  the  fleet  hare  thou  wilt  catch  on  the  steppe  surrounding  ? 
Or  dost  in  tliy  fancy  taste  liberty  the  sweetest  ? 
Or  would'st  try  the  Ukraine  winds  which  of  you  is  fleetest  ? 
Maybe  thou  dost  soothe  thy  soul  with  that  song's  sad  cadence, 
Thinking  of  thy  far-off  love,  comeliest  of  maidens. 
O'er  thy  brow  the  cap  is  pressed,  slackened  is  the  bridle ; 
Clouds  of  dust  along  thy  path  show  thy  course  not  idle. 
Lo  !  that  sunburnt  face  of  thine  with  what  ardour  glowing  ! 
How  thine  eyes  enraptured  shine,  joy  its  sparkles  throwing  ; 
Thy  wild  steed  obeys  like  thee;  then  fleet  as  the  swallow, 
With  his  eager  neck  outstretched,  leaves  the  wind  to  follow. 
Out !  poor  peasant,  from  the  road,  lest  a  woe  betide  thee ; 
Lest  the  courier  spill  thy  goods,  yea  !  and  override  thee. 
And  thou  dark  bird  of  the  sky  everything  that  greetest, 
Tho'  around  thou  v/heel'st  thy  flight,  man  and  steed  are  fleetest. 
Croak  thou  may'st,  but  croak'st  in  vain,  of  ill-luck  the  prophet; 
Hide  thy  secret — for  he's  gone — thou'lt  tell  nothing  of  it," 


314  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

2. 

*'  On  lit  by  the  setting  sun ;  onward  ever  driven  ; 

Like  some  messenger  he  seems,  sent  to  men  from  heaven. 

You  may  hear  his  horse's  hoof  echo  half  a  mile  hence  ; 

Over  all  that  mighty  steppe,  lies  a  brooding  silence.  • 

Never  merry  sound  of  knight  nor  of  squire  careering, 

Sad  wind  whispering  in  the  wheat,  that  is  all  you're  hearing, 

In  among  the  grass  of  graves,  wizard  voices  sighing 

Where  with  wither'd  wreaths  the  brave  all  unreck'd  are  lying. 

'Tis  a  music  wild  and  sweet,  voice  of  Polish  nation. 

Which  preserves  her  memory  fond  for  each  generation 

Only  from  the  wild  flowers  now  they  their  splendour  borrow ; 

Ah  !  what  heart  that  knows  their  fate,  feels  no  pang  of  sorrow  !" 

Malczewski,  who  led  a  wandering  life,  is  said  to 
have  become  acquainted  with  Byron  at  Venice,  and 
to  have  suggested  to  the  English  poet  the  subject  of 
Mazeppa.  The  chief  poetical  work  of  Goszczynski 
is  the  "  Tower  of  Kaniow  "  {Zamek  Kaniowski)^  a 
romantic  narrative  poem. 

But  the  most  celebrated  poets  among  the  contem- 
poraries of  Mickiewicz  are  Slowacki  and  Krasinski. 
Julius  Slowacki  ( 1 809-1 849)  was  born  at  Krzemi- 
niec,  in  Russian  Poland.  In  1831  he  left  his  native 
country  and  resided  thenceforth  at  Paris.  There  is 
something  of  Byron  and  Victor  Hugo  in  his  writings. 
In  his  long  poem  on  Count  Beniowski,  he  manages 
the  ottava  rima  with  wonderful  dexterity.  A  mystic 
in  every  sense  of  the  word  was  Sigismund  Krasinski, 
born  in  181 2  at  Paris,  and  died  in  1859.  His  chief  work 
is  his  Nieboska  Komedja  (''  The  Undivine  Comedy  "), 
a  strange  poem  dealing  with  the  sufferings  of  his 
country.  The  small  space  at  our  disposal  in  a  work 
of  the  present  kind  forbids  any  detailed  criticism  of 


FREDRO,  315 

minor  Polish  authors,  and  indeed  there  is  abundance 
of  them. 

Before  proceeding  to  mention  the  claimants  of 
the  laurel  who  are  living  in  our  own  days,  some- 
thing must  be  said  of  earlier  writers,  who  introduced 
into  the  country  special  forms  of  literature.  We 
have  already  spoken  of  the  first  scenic  representa- 
tions in  Poland  ;  the  first  dramatic  writers  were  men 
who  simply  adapted  French  plays,  and  owing  to  the 
prevalence  of  the  French  school  in  Poland  during 
the  eighteenth  century,  this  was  a  result  which  might 
be  expected.  Some  of  these  writers  were  amxazingly 
prolific,  but  the  Poles  never  quite  reconciled  them- 
selves to  French  fashions,  as  Mickiewicz  has  so 
humorously  shown  at  the  beginning  of  his  Pan 
Tadeiisz.  Of  course  any  imitation  of  Shakspere 
was  out  of  the  question.  The  great  poet  did  not  suit 
the  French  taste,  although  Coxe  tells  us  that  King 
Stanislaus  confessed  to  a  liking  for  him.  We  know 
from  some  of  the  writings  of  Krasicki  what  at 
that  time  was  thought  of  the  English  dramatist  in 
Poland.  Trembecki  gave  a  version  of  Hamlet's 
celebrated  monologue,  '*  To  be,  or  not  to  be,"  and  a 
translation  of  the  whole  play  appeared  at  Lem- 
berg  in  1797.  At  the  present  time  the  Poles  can  boast 
an  excellent  translation  of  Shakspere  in  blank  verse. 

No  writer  of  talent,  however,  appeared  in  this  field 
of  literature  till  Count  Alexander  Fredro  (i  793-1 876), 
who  introduced  genuine  comedy  to  his  countrymen. 
The  influence  of  Moliere  is  paramount  throughout 
the  pieces  he  wrote,  as  might  be  expected  in  the 
case  of  a  man   whose  youth  was  spent   in    France. 


31 6  POLISH   LITERATURE. 

He  formed  one  of  the  soldiers  of  Napoleon's  foreign 
legion,  and  shared  in  the  ill  fated  expedition  against 
Russia.  His  works  are  about  seventeen  in  number  ; 
although  the  style  forcibly  recalls  Moliere,  the 
characters  and  incidents  are  essentially  Polish.  Other 
authors  have  followed  in  his  footsteps.  His  son,  who 
died  in  1891,  also  wrote  comedies. 

History  in  Poland  can  claim  several  authors  of 
talent  during  the  last  century  ;  for  instance,  Narusze- 
wicz  and  Albertrandi.  But  in  the  nineteenth  they 
have  been  eclipsed  by  greater  names,  and  among 
these  a  prominent  place  must  be  given  to  Joachim 
Lelewel,  once  professor  at  Wilno. 

I.elewel  was  born  on  the  22nd  of  March,  1786,  at 
Warsaw.  His  family  came  from  Germany,  and  he 
was  originally  called  Loelhoefel  ;  his  father,  Charles, 
received  Polish  citizenship  in  1777,  and  altered  his 
name,  which  still  has  something  foreign  in  its  sounds 
as  the  accent  is  on  the  first  syllable,  whereas,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  Polish  accentuation,  it  ought  to 
be  on  the  penultimate.  In  the  year  18 14  he  was 
appointed  deputy- Professor  of  History  at  Wilno, 
and  with  this  office  his  active  career  begins.  He 
succeeded  in  arousing  the  enthusiasm  of  his  pupils, 
and  occupied  himself  not  only  with  the  duties 
of  his  chair,  but  also  with  literary  work.  After 
discharging  these  functions  for  some  time  he 
went  to  Warsaw,  where  he  became  librarian  to  the 
university.  He  was  again,  however,  invited  to  Wilno, 
where  he  was  received  with  open  arms.  The  youth- 
ful Mickiewicz  dedicated  to  him  one  of  his  finest 
odes.     In  1823,  in  consequence  of  the  prosecution  by 


LELEWEL.  317 

the  Government  of  the  secret  societies  at  Wilno,  he 
lost  his  place,  and  betook  himself  again  to  Warsaw. 
He  no'.v  began  writing  a  series  of  valuable  historical 
monographs  on  ancient  history  ;  especially  on  that 
of  the  Carthaginians.  When,  in  the  year  1830,  the 
revolution  broke  out,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
national  government,  and  president  of  the  Patriotic 
Society  ;  although  a  man  of  meditation  rather  than 
of  action,  and  one  who  had  spent  his  life  half-buried 
in  the  dust  of  a  library.  His  political  career  was 
unsuccessful,  but  he  remained  throughout  true  to  his 
principles,  and  on  the  termination  of  the  revolution 
managed  to  escape  from  the  country,  although  he 
was  marked  out  for  punishment  in  the  ukases  of  the 
conqueror.  He  then  betook  himself  to  Paris  :  this 
city  he  was  obliged  to  quit  in  1832  and  departed  to 
Brussels,  where  he  spent  twenty-nine  years  in  poverty 
and  labour.  Besides  works  on  Polish  history,  he 
published  while  there  a  series  of  valuable  books  on 
geography,  numismatics,  and  archaeology,  partly  in 
French  and  partly  in  Polish ;  himself  being  the  engraver 
of  the  maps  and  plates  of  coins  which  illustrated 
his  works.  The  most  celebrated  of  these  were  his 
"  Numismatique  du  Moyen  Age,"  2  vols.,  1835; 
"Geographic  du  Moyen  Age,"  4  vols.,  1850-1852  ; 
and  in  Polish  "Poland  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  1845- 
185 1,  "Foundations  of  Universal  History."  His 
services,  not  only  to  Polish,  but  to  universal  history 
and  no  less  to  geography,  especially  of  the  ancient 
world,  were  recognised  not  only  by  his  own  country- 
men, but  by  the  scholars  of  all  Europe. 

In  Brussels  Lelewel  inhabited  for  many  years  two 


3l8  POLISH   LITERATURE. 

little  rooms,  in  one  of  which  he  slept,  worked,  and 
received  ordinary  visits  ;  the  other,  a  little  better 
furnished,  was  only  opened  on  special  occasions. 
In  the  morning  he  was  waited  upon  by  an  old  Polish 
canteen  woman,  who  boasted  that  Joseph  Poniatowski; 
shortly  before  he  was  drowned  in  the  Elster  at  the 
battle  of  Leipzig,  had  taken  a  draught  from  her 
flask.  In  spite  of  all  his  philosophy,  Lelewel  never 
succeeded  in  learning  how  to  set  his  room  to  rights, 
or  to  make  his  bed.  He  lived  worse  than  the  poorest 
Brussels  artisan,  but  would  never  receive  any  con- 
tribution from  his  richer  countrymen.  As  he  sat  in 
the  winter  in  a  room  that  could  not  be  warmed,  a 
Polish  lady  during  his  absence  caused  a  stove  to  be 
put  in  ;  but  when  he  came  back,  he  turned  it  out  of 
the  room — ^just  as  Dr.  Johnson  did  with  the  shoes 
which  had  been  given  him — and  only  at  last  allowed 
a  pipe  to  be  introduced  into  his  own  from  a  neigh- 
bouring room,  which  was  well  warmed.  He  fre- 
quently, however,  opened  the  windows  during  the 
severest  frost.  Coffee  was  a  great  refreshment  to 
him,  but  he  only  enjoyed  it  once  a  week  ;  on  other 
days  he  breakfasted  on  bread  and  milk.  When 
Poles,  who  visited  him,  entitled  him  "  Your  Ex- 
cellency," as  he  had  formerly  been  a  minister,  he 
forbade  it,  and  would  not  allow  himself  to  be  called 
"  Mr.,''  but  only  "  citizen."  During  the  morning 
hours  he  sat  at  his  work  with  bare  feet  in  felt  shoes 
and  in  an  old  grey  cloak,  with  a  pocket-handkerchief 
which  had  at  one ,  time  been  white,  but  had  now 
become  brown,  pinned  to  his  knees  :  this  he  wished 
to   have   conveniently    at  hand    as   he  u*as   a   great 


LELEWEL.  319 

sniifir-taker.  His  linen,  however,  was  always  very 
clean.  At  mid-day  he  went  dressed  in  a  blue  work- 
man's blouse  to  a  poor  little  public-house  to  get  a 
humble  meal  among  the  artisans  who  frequented  it. 
As  he  never  took  a  walk,  he  tried  to  get  the  requisite 
exercise  by  running  about  the  streets  in  a  brisk  trot. 
No  one  pushed  against  him  ;  everybody  greeted  him, 
for  he  was  held  in  much  esteem,  both  by  high  and 
low.  When  on  one  occasion,  a  woman,  who  kept  an 
eating-house  frequented  by  Lelewel,  at  the  instigation 
of  his  friends  gave  him  better  food  than  usually  at 
the  same  price,  he  noticed  the  attempt  to  assist  his 
poverty,  and  sternly  refused  all  future  efforts  of  the 
kind.  His  poverty,  moreover,  was  voluntary,  and 
sprang  from  a  desire  to  remain  true  to  his  democratic 
principles.  He  was  contented  with  very  humble 
payment  for  the  work  which  he  undertook.  When 
he  was  entrusted  by  the  corporation  of  Brussels  with 
the  arrangement  and  cataloguing  of  the  city  col- 
lection of  coins,  he  charged  only  a  franc  a  day  for 
this  very  important  work. 

On  one  occasion  when  he  was  taking  some  of  the 
proofs  of  his  "  Coins  of  the  Middle  Ages  "  to  his 
publisher's  private  house,  the  cook,  who  opened  the 
door,  thought  he  was  a  beggar.  She  saw  before  her 
an  old  man  in  a  blue  workman's  blouse  with  a  huge 
cap,  and  shut  the  door  in  his  face.  After  long  fruitless 
parleying  to  get  admission,  he  said  :  "  I  am  Lelewel.' 
The  cook  with  tears  begged  his  pardon. 

In  the  year  1861  the  veteran  of  seventy- five  years 
fell  ill.  Some  of  his  friends  succeeded  in  persuading 
him  to  allow  himself  to  be  taken  to  Paris,  where  a 


320  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

comfortable  room  had  been  got  ready  for  him  in  the 
house  of  Dr.  Dubois.  He  only  consented  on  its  being 
understood  that  all  the  expenditure  should  be  paid 
out  of  the  profits  of  his  works.  But  three  days  later 
he  was  no  more. 

Many  interesting  circumstances  relating  to  the 
career  of  this  extraordinary  enthusiast  will  be  found 
in  the  pages  of  Nitschmann's  Geschichte  der  Polnis- 
chere  Literatur.  We  were  able  to  learn  much 
about  the  historian  from  the  late  M.  Altmeyer, 
sometime  Professor  of  Modern  History  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Brussels,  who  was  well  acquainted  with 
Lelewel.  We  were  told  that  the  latter  possessed 
many  relics  of  the  Insurrection  of  1830,  including 
some  of  the  flags  and  some  important  documents. 

Full  justice  has  been  done  by  subsequent  writers 
to  the  learning  and  industry  of  Lelewel ;  but  his  views 
on  Polish  history  are  not  universally  accepted.  He 
has  contemplated  it  too  much  from  a  democratic 
point  of  view,  and  has  seen  popular  influences  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  Polish  history,  which  can  hardly  be 
said  to  have  existed.  Nor  can  his  "  History  of 
Poland  "  be  considered  any  longer  the  standard  work, 
as  it  is  now  being  cast  into  the  shade  by  the  German 
history  commenced  by  Ropell,  and  now  in  course  of 
continuation  by  Dr.  Caro. 

Some  of  the  best  work  which  has  been  done  by 
Polish  authors  in  modern  times  has  been  historical. 
The  Academy  of  Cracow  has  published  a  mass  of 
most  important  documents,  and  continues  its  valuable 
labours.  Theodore  Narbutt  (1784- 1864)  was  the 
author    of    a   large    work   on    the    ancient    history 


SZAJNOCHA.  321 

of  Lithuania,  entitled  Dzieje  Starozytne  narodu 
litewskiego.  It  extends  to  nine  volumes,  and  al- 
though it  has  been  accused  of  want  of  critical  power, 
it  is  a  great  storehouse  of  valuable  materials.  To 
him  we  are  indebted  for  the  publication  of  an  old 
chronicle  which  had  remained  in  manuscript,  and 
which  he  issued  under  the  title  Pomniki  do  Dziejow 
litezvskich  (Wilno,  1846).  Karl  Szajnocha  was  the 
son  of  a  Bohemian,  who  had  settled  in  Galicia,  where 
he  held  a  small  Government  office.  The  historian 
was  born  in  181 8,  and  as  early  as  1835,  when  he  was 
a  student,  was  imprisoned  for  six  months  by  the 
Austrian  Government  in  consequence  of  some  verses 
which  were  found  upon  him.  He  first  at.racted 
notice  by  his  "Age  of  Casimir  the  Great,"  and 
"  Boleslas  the  Brave."  These  works  were  followed 
in  1855-56  by  his  history  in  three  volumes  of  the 
reign  of  Jadwiga  and  Jagiello,  which  deservedly  met 
with  great  favour,  and  is  esteemed  one  of  the  most 
important  Polish  historical  works.  In  the  year  1857 
the  unfortunate  author  lost  his  sight  from  too  much 
study,  and  thus,  like  Augustin  Thierry  and  Prescott, 
was  obliged  to  continue  his  labours  by  means  of 
dictation.  He  possessed,  however,  a  powerful  memory, 
and  this  helped  him  to  triumph  over  his  disaster.  In 
1858  he  wrote  a  work  to  advocate  the  theory  that 
the  Polish  kingdom  had  its  origin  from  Norse  or 
Varangian  settlers,  just  as  the  Russian  Empire  had 
{Lechicki pocz(}tek  Polski,  "  The  Lechs  the  Beginning 
of  Poland  ").  The  historian  was  not  so  happy  in  this 
conjectural  domain  as  he  had  been  in  his  other  works, 
and  his  views  have  not  found  favour  with  critics.    The 

22 


322  POLISH  LITERATURE. 

last  publication  of  Szajnocha  had  to  do  with  the 
wars  of  the  Cossacks  in  the  seventeenth  century,  which 
ended  in  their  revolt  and  final  transfer  of  their  alle- 
giance to  the  Russians.     He  died  in  1868. 

Joseph  Szujski  was  born  at  Tarnow  in  Galicia  in 
1835,  and  made  his  reputation  by  his  great  work,  "  The 
History  of  Poland^according  to  the  latest  Investiga- 
tions "(4  vols.  Lemberg.  1 862-1 865).  Besides  his  his- 
torical works  he  is  also  the  author  of  several  plays, 
which  enjoy  much  popularity  among  his  countrymen. 
Valuable  historical  works  were  also  produced  by 
Henry  Schmitt,  born  in  18 17,  who  died  a  short  time 
ago,  especially  his  "  Reign  of  Stanislaus  Augustus,"  and 
"  Life  of  Hugo  KoU^taj."  Allusion  has  already  been 
made  to  the  classical  work  of  Valerian  Kalinka  on 
the  "  Four  Years'  Diet."  He  also  published  at  Posen 
in  1868  "  The  Last  Years  of  the  Reign  of  Stanislaus 
Augustus."  Vincent  Zakrzewski  (born  in  1844)  has 
written  an  important  work  on  the  Reformation  in 
Poland,  and  published  also  at  Cracow,  in  1878,  a 
description  of  the  long  interregnum  which  occurred 
in  Poland  after  the  flight  of  Henri  de  Valois,  when 
the  country  was  rent  by  political  and  religious  dis- 
turbances. 

Lastly,  we  must  mention  Stanislaus  Smolka  and 
Michael  Bobrzynski,  both  now  living. 

Of  Polish  novelists  we  have  as  yet  said  nothing, 
but  space  must  be  found  to  mention  the  extraordinary 
labours  of  Kraszewski.  His  chief  works  are  novels 
treating  in  the  main  of  Polish  history.  His  writings 
of  all  kinds  amounted  in  1879,  when  he  celebrated  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  career  as  an  author,  to  the 


KRASZEWSKI,  323 

number  of  two  liundred  and  fifty  works.  One  of  the 
most  popular  of  his  novels  is  "  Yermola  the  Potter," 
a  pathetic  tale,  which  resembles  in  plot  the  "  Silas 
Marner"  of  George  Eliot,  but  it  appeared  in  1857, 
some  time  before  the  appearance  of  that  work.  Krasz- 
ewski  was  arrested  by  the  Government  on  a  charge 
of  having  treasonably  procured  plans  of  German 
fortifications,  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  in  the 
fortress  of  Magdeburg.  He  was,  however,  released 
on  parole,  which  he  broke,  and  soon  afterwards  died  at 
Geneva  in  1887.  A  popular  writer  still  living  is  Henry 
Sienkewicz,  the  author  of  some  celebrated  historical 
novels.  Of  these  two  have  appeared  in  English, 
"  With  Fire  and  Sword  "  and  "  The  Deluge."  Sienke- 
wicz gives  us  some  very  vigorous  historical  pictures. 
Russian  critics  are  apt  to  complain  of  them  that  he 
makes  the  virtues  too  much  on  the  side  of  the  Poles,  and 
depicts  their  Malo-Russian  subjects  as  half-savages. 

We  must  now  retrace  our  steps  somewhat  to  speak 
of  the  lesser  luminaries  among  the  Polish  poets,  who 
were  more  or  less  of  the  school  of  Mickiewicz.  First 
we  would  place  Constantine  Gaszynski,his  friend,  who 
died  in  1868.  Some  of  his  lyrics  have  become  wonder- 
fully popular,  and  will  be  found  in  the  common  song- 
books  ;  but  his  sonnets  alone  ought  to  embalm  his 
memory.  The  following  strikes  us  as  worth  trans- 
lating on  account  of  its  beauty  : — 

TO  HIS  MOTHER  ON  CHRISTMAS  EVE. 

Mother,  'tis  now  five  years  the  trees  all  bare 
With  snow  have  glisteii'd  :  five  times  winter's  cold 
Hath  breathed,  since  inmates  of  a  happy  fold 
Upon  this  holy  eve  we  knelt  in  prayer. 


324  POLISH    LITERATURE. 

Forlorn,  thou  castest  sad  eyes  everywhere, 
What  time  the  number  of  thy  flock  is  told  ; 
Andsayest:  "  We  had  our  Constantine  of  old, 
But  strangers  with  him  now  their  Christmas  share.'' 

Oh  !  mother,  when  thou  prayest  at  eve  deploring. 
To  Mary,  with  thy  accent  low  and  sweet, 
The  voices  of  our  hearts  shall  blend  and  meet ; 
And  the  glad  angels  to  the  heaven  upsoaring 
Shall  bear  two  fragrant  flowers  twined  in  one  wreath, 
The  prayers  that  lonely  son  and  mother  breathe. 

A  graceful  poet  still  living  is  Theophilus  Lenart- 
owicz,  born  in  1822  ;    he  quitted  his  native  country 
in    1848.      Since   that   time   he   has   resided    chiefly 
at    Florence.     He   is    also  a  sculptor,  and  has  pub- 
lished some  exquisite   lyrics,  which  are  conspicuous 
for   their   deep    religious  feeling.     One  of  the   most 
powerful    is   that    entitled    "Lazarus,   arise!"       His 
poems  appeared  at   Posen   in  two  volumes  in   1863. 
We  must  find  space  to  mention  Vincent  Pol,  author 
of  a   poem   entitled   "  Wit   Stwosz,"  celebrating  the 
Polish  architect  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  Wences- 
laus  Kondratowicz  ;  the  latter  wrote   under  the  nom 
de  guerre  of  Syrokomla.  These  poets  enjoy  deservedly 
a  high  reputation  among  their  countrymen. 

In  Cornelius  Ujejski,  born  in  1823  in  Galicia,  we 
have  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  modern  Polish 
lyrical  poets.  His  celebrated  verses,  Z  dyniem  po- 
zarow^  which  enjoyed  and  still  enjoy  immense 
popularity  throughout  Poland,  are  here  given  in  an 
English  version,  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  give  some 
faint  idea  of  their  extraordinary  power.  They  were 
written  during  the  terrible  uprising  of  the  Galician 
peasantry  in  1846: 


uyEjsKi,  325 

'Mid  smoke  of  burnings,  'mid  b'ood  of  brothers, 
Our  voice,  O  God,  goes  up  to-day  : 
This  fearful  woe  our  groan  half  smothers  ; 
With  long-spent  anguish  our  heads  are  grey. 
Our  songs  are  only  songs  of  waiUng ; 
A  crown  of  thorns  is  about  our  brow  ; 
Like  monuments  of  Thy  wrath  prevailing, 
Our  hands  are  stretched  with  their  profifer'd  vow. 

Oft  hast  thou  scourged  us  :  our  wounds  all  bleeding 
Show  ghastly  from  Thy  heavenly  rod  ; 
But  still  "  He'll  pity,"  is  all  our  pleading, 
For  He  is  our  Father  !  He  is  our  God. 
And  when  we  would  taste  of  comfort  after, 
Against  us  the  foe  at  Thy  bidding  raves  ; 
Like  a  stone  at  our  hearts  his  bitter  laughter, 
Where  is  this  Father — this  God  who  saves  ? 

We  look  at  the  sky  and  think  that  surely 

A  hundred  suns  will  give  their  sign  ; 

O'er  us  the  blue  is  spread  all  purely  ; 

The  free  bird  bathes  in  its  calm  divine. 

But  with  such  doubts  our  souls  are  teeming, 

Our  faith  grown  feeble  is  hardly  stirred  ; 

Our  hearts  bleed  inly  ! — O  !  judge  not  our  seeming 

Rash  murmurs — ^judge  not  each  frenzied  word  I 

We  know  not  one  day  from  another, 

O  God  !  for  its  hourly  tale  of  pain  : 

Son  slays  sire,  and  brother  brother. 

We  have  around  us  the  brood  of  Cain. 

Lord  !  they  are  guiltless  ;  their  eyes  are  blinded. 

Though  through  them  we  shall  live  abhorr'd  ; 

There  are  unseen  doers,  like  devils  minded, 

O  punish  the  hand,  and  not  the  sword. 

See  in  our  lonely  anguish  lying, 

We  haste  to  Thy  stars  and  seek  Thy  breast  ; 

Like  weary  birds  with  our  prayers  we're  flying, 

And  long  to  find  some  peaceful  nest. 

Give  us  Thy  grace  in  our  toils  to  arm  us : 

Safe  in  Thy  folds  Thy  children  keep ; 

The  fragrance  of  griefs  crush'd  flowers  shall  charm  us  : 

The  halo  of  chastening  light  our  sleep  : 


326  POLISH   LITERATURE. 

With  Thy  archangel  before  us  tow'ring, 
On  we'll  march  to  the  great  strife — on  ! 
And  o'er  the  body  of  Satan  cow'ring, 
We'll  plant  Thy  banner  for  victory  won  ! 
We'll  open  our  hearts  to  our  brother's  prayers, 
The  cross  of  freedom  shall  cleanse  his  stains  ; 
And  this  our  answer  to  foul  gainsayers, 
As  He  was  ever,  so  God  remains. 

The  best  known  contemporary  poet  is  Adam  Asnyk, 
whose  compositions  are  chiefly  lyrical :  he  lives  at 
Cracow.  The  most  popular  poetess  is  Maria  Konop- 
nicka. 

In  spite  of  the  difficulties  under  which  the  dis- 
membered country  labours,  there  are  four  fairly 
active  centres  of  Polish  literature :  Warsaw,  Cracow, 
Lemberg,  and  Posen,  the  last  much  less  than  the 
other  three,  because  the  province  has  been  more 
completely  Germanised.  The  University  of  Warsaw 
has  been  Russified  since  the  late  insurrection,  but 
Cracow  and  Lemberg,  which  are  thoroughly  Polish, 
boast  some  eminent  professors.  The  work  of  the 
Academy  of  Cracow  has  already  been  spoken  of;  it 
was  founded  in  1872.  Of  considerable  value  are  the 
editions  of  rare  Polish  authors  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, which  are  now  appearing  under  its  superintend- 
ence. Many  learned  reviews  appear  in  Polish,  quite 
up  to  the  level  of  the  best  English,  French,  and 
German. 


XIV. 

THE  SOCIAL  CONDITION   OF  POLAND. 

The  occurrence  of  such  a  phenomenon  in  European 
history  as  the  disappearance  from  the  commonwealth 
of  nations  of  a  country  which  had  existed  for  eight 
hundred  years,  seems  to  call  for  some  attempt  at 
explanation.  The  question  has  often  been  asked, 
What  were  the  causes  of  the  fall  of  Poland  ?  We 
propose  in  the  present  chapter  to  attempt  to  answer 
this  inquiry,  but  before  doing  so,  we  shall  describe  the 
political  and  social  condition  of  the  Kingdom,  or 
rather  Republic  {Rzeczpospolitd)  in  the  days  of  its 
independence. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Crown,  which  in  earlier  times 
was  more  or  less  hereditary  in  the  families  of  the 
Piasts  and  Jagiellos,  became  purely  elective  in  the 
persons  of  Henri  de  Valois  and  Stephen  Batory  ;  but 
even  afterwards  in  the  three  following  kings  went  into 
a  side  branch  of  the  Jagiellos.  Michael  Korybut  and 
Sobieski  were  not  connected  directly  with  any  royal 
line,  but  we  shall  obsei-ve  that  after  the  reign  of 
Augustus  of  Saxony  the  throne  was  obtained  by  his 
son. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  pacta  conventa. 
327 


328  THE   SOCIAL   CONDITION   OF   POLAND. 

These  conditions,  to  which  every  sovereign  after  the 
time  of  Henri  de  Valois  was  obliged  to  swear  obedi- 
ence, were  founded  upon  the  body  of  privileges  which 
the  nobles  had  extorted  from  the  king  since  the  time 
of  Louis  (Pol.,  Ludwik),  1 370--1 382.  Several  additions 
were  subsequently  made.  The  following  summary 
contains  the  chief  of  these /<^<:/rt:. 

1.  The  king  was  not  to  attempt  to  influence  the 
senate  in  the  choice  of  a  successor. 

2.  He  must  observe  the  agreements  which  had  been 
made  with  the  Dissidents. 

3.  No  war  was  to  be  declared,  or  military  expedi- 
tions undertaken,  without  the  consent  of  the  diet. 

4.  No  taxes  were  to  be  imposed  without  the  consent 
of  the  diet. 

5.  The  king  could  not  appoint  ambassadors  to 
foreign  courts. 

6.  In  case  of  different  opinions  prevailing  among 
the  senators,  he  should  adopt  only  such  as  were  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  and  clearly  advantageous  to 
the  nation. 

7.  He  should  be  furnished  with  a  permanent 
council,  the  members  of  which  (sixteen  in  number,  viz., 
four  bishops,  four  palatines,  and  eight  castellans) 
should  be  changed  every  half  year,  and  should  be 
chosen  by  the  ordinary  diets. 

8.  A  general  diet  should  be  convened  every  two 
years  at  least. 

9.  The  duration  of  each  diet  was  not  to  exceed  six 
weeks. 

10.  None  but  a  native  could  hold  any  dignity  or 
benefice. 


THE    NOBILITY.  329 

II.  The  king  must  neither  marry  nor  divorce  a  wife 
without  the  consent  of  the  diet 

So  much  for  the  power  of  the  king. 

The  inhabitants  of  Poland  might  be  divided  as 
follows  :  a.  the  Nobles  ;  b.  the  Clergy  ;  c.  the  Burghers  ; 
d.  the  Peasants  ;  e.  the  Jews. 

a.  According  to  the  Polish  laws,  a  noble  was  a  person 
possessing  a  freehold  estate,  or  one  who  could  prove 
his  descent  from  ancestors  possessing  a  freehold,  who 
followed  no  trade,  and  could  choose  their  place  of 
habitation.  Under  this  category  came  all  besides 
burghers  and  peasants  All  these  nobles  were  equal 
by  birth,  and  it  was  expressly  stated  in  the  Polish 
laws  that  titles  gave  no  precedence.  By  means  of 
their  representatives  in  the  diet,  the  nobles  had  a 
share  in  the  legislation.  As  a  man  lost  his  nobility 
if  he  engaged  in  any  commercial  transactions,  the 
country  was  full  of  poor  gentry  who  swelled  the 
retinues  of  the  richer  nobles.  This  was  expressed  in 
the  Polish  proverb  :  SzlacJicic  na  zagrodzie  rowny 
Wojewodzie  (the  nobleman  on  his  plot  of  ground 
{zagrodd)  is  equal  to  a  Wojewode  or  Palatine).  A 
nobleman  alone  might  wear  a  sword,  and  thus,  as  Mr. 
Naganowski  tells  us,  it  was  not  unusual  to  see  the 
zasciankowicze,  or  inhabitants  of  the  zascianki,  a  sort 
of  peasant  nobles,  following  the  plough  barefooted 
wearing  an  old  rusty  sword  at  their  side  tied  by  a 
piece  of  string. 

In  the  pages  of  Hauteville  we  get  a  glimpse  of 
the  mode  of  life  of  the  nobles  at  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century — before,  let  us  remember,  that  the 
country  had  sunk  into  insignificance  and  Poland  had 


POLISH  ARMOUR  AT  THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY. 


THE   NOBILITY.  331 

ceased  to  be  a  great  power  :  "  When  the  Polanders 
make  a  feast,  all  the  guests  who  are  invited  must 
bring  a  knife,  fork,  and  spoon  along  with  them, 
because  it  is  not  a  custom  to  lay  any  of  these  utensils 
upon  the  table  ;  they  sew  a  piece  of  linen  round  the 
table-cloth  which  serves  for  napkins.  After  all  the 
guests  are  come,  the  gates  are  shut  and  are  not 
opened  till  all  the  company  are  risen  from  the  table 
and  all  the  plate  is  found  ;  for  if  they  did  not  use  this 
precaution,  the  footmeyi  would  steal  part  of  it  ;  and 
this  is  also  the  reason  why  they  lay  neither  knives 
spoons,  forks,  nor  napkins  upon  the  table.  Every 
person  of  quality  has  a  hall  in  his  house,  which  they 
call  the  banqueting  hall,  in  which  there  is  a  place  for 
a  side-table,  surrounded  with  balusters.  This  side- 
table,  from  which  the  cloth  is  never  taken  off  till  it  is 
very  dirty,  is  covered  with  abundance  of  plate,  and 
over  it  is  a  place  for  the  music,  which  is  usually  com- 
posed of  violins  and  organs.  Those  who  are  invited 
to  the  feast  bring  their  footmen  with  them,  and  as  soon 
as  they  are  seated  at  the  table,  every  one  of  them  cuts 
off  one-half  of  his  bread  which  he  gives  with  a  plate 
full  of  meat  to  his  servant  who,  after  he  has  shared  it 
with  his  comrade,  stands  behind  his  master  and  eats 
it.  If  the  master  calls  twice  for  a  glass  of  wine  or 
other  liquor,  the  servant  brings  as  much  more,  and 
drinks  in  the  same  glass  with  his  master  without 
rinsing  it.  Though  there  is  a  great  deal  of  meat 
brought  to  the  table,  there  is  nothing  carried  back  to 
the  kitchen,  not  even  of  the  last  course ;  for  the 
servants  seize  upon  all  the  meat,  and  their  ladies 
make  each  of  them  carry  a  napkin  to  bring  away  the 


A    POLISH    GENTLEMAN. 
Publislird  according  to  Act  of  Parliament,  Jan.  i,  1784,  by  T.  Cadell,  in  the  Strand. 


r 


I 


^0r(Hi?mof (/^^ 


A  RUSSIAN   GENTLEMAN  IN   A   WINTER   DRESS. 
PiiMishe.l  according  to  Act  of  rarlianient,  Jan.  i,  1784,  by  T.  Cadell,  in  the  Strand. 


334         ^^^   SOCIAL   CONDITION  OF  POLAND. 

dry  sweetmeats  or  fruits  that  are  brought  to  the 
table.  After  they  have  done  eating,  they  usually  go 
to  dance." 

In  the  latter  days  of  the  Polish  Republic  the 
number  of  the  nobility  seems  to  have  been  steadily 
on  the  decrease.  It  was  doubted  whether  a  general 
levy  would  bring  together  as  many  as  I50,0(X). 
Most  of  the  estates  w^ere  heavily  mortgaged  :  the 
nobles  preferred  life  at  court  or  in  the  towns, 
frequently  travelled,  and  were  conspicuous  for  their 
luxury  and  imitation  of  French  manners. 

d.  The  Clergy.  From  the  time  of  the  introduction  of 
Christianity,  the  Polish  clergy  possessed  large  estates 
which  were  increased  by  frequent  donations.  It  was 
feared  at  last  that  most  of  the  landed  property  of  the 
kingdom  would  fall  into  their  hands,  and  accord- 
ingly a  law  was  passed  in  1669  forbidding  alienation 
of  lands  to  the  Church  under  penalty  of  forfeiture. 
The  bishops  had  a  seat  in  the  senate  :  they  were 
usually  appointed  by  the  king  and  confirmed  by  the 
Pope.  The  Archbi.shop  of  Gnesen  was  primate :  he 
was  in  rank  the  first  senator  and  viceroy  during  an 
interregnum.  In  civil  affairs  the  clergy  were  amen- 
able to  the  ordinary  courts  of  justice.  In  criminal 
cases  the  ecclesiastic  was  first  arrested  by  the  civil 
powers,  then  tried  in  the  consistorial  court,  which 
was  held  under  the  jurisdiction  of  each  bishop  in  his 
diocese,  and  if  convicted  he  was  remitted  to  the  civil 
power  to  undergo  the  penalty  attached  to  the  crime 
of  which  he  had  been  found  guilty.  We  thus  see  that 
the  Poles,  although  the  influence  of  the  clergy  among 
them  was  very  great,  had  not  allowed  them  to  grow 


THE  BURGHERS,  335 

up  as  a  kind  of  hnperiiim  in  imperio.  But  till  the  time 
of  the  dismemberment  of  the  country,  if  the  Pope 
sent  a  bull  into  Poland,  the  clergy  could  carry  out  its 
details  without  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  civil 
power.  Till  1538,  ecclesiastics  were  allowed  to  hold 
civil  appointments ;  this,  however,  was  afterwards 
forbidden  and  later  laws  rendered  the  clergy  liable  to 
taxation  from  which  they  had  previously  been 
exempt 

c.  The  Burghers.  The  tradesmen  and  artisans  in 
the  Polish  towns  were  in  a  peculiar  position.  They 
were  for  the  most  part  Germans  or  Jews  ;  the  abso- 
lute bondage  in  which  the  peasantry  were  held  by  the 
nobles  forbade  them  from  advancing  themselves,  and 
thus  the  trade  of  the  country  fell  into  foreign  hands. 
This  absence  of  a  national  middle  class  may  justly  be 
considered  one  of  the  main  causes  of  the  fall  of  the 
Republic ;  there  was  no  condition  of  society  to  interpose 
between  the  noble  and  peasant.  The  burghers  were 
not  governed  by  Polish  law,  but  by  the  Jus  Magde- 
btirgimm  in  the  southern  Polish  towns  ;  in  the  north- 
ern, in  Masovia  and  Cujavia,  we  meet  for  the  most 
part  with  the  Kulm  law.  A  magistrate  under  these 
laws  was  called  a  soltys  or  voigt  (Pol.  wojt).  The 
condition  of  Cracow,  the  capital,  will  give  us  a  good 
idea  of  what  prevailed  in  the  other  cities.  In  the 
fourth  volume  of  the  Montimenta  Medii  CEvi  historica, 
res gestas  Polonice  ilhistrantia,  extracts  are  given  from 
some  of  the  early  municipal  books  of  Cracow. 
German  names  greatly  preponderate  among  the 
citizens,  and  the  majority  of  the  extracts  are  in 
German.     The  oldest  document  of  the  city  is  that  in 


^^6         THE   SOCIAL   CONDITION  OF  POLAND. 

which  the  /us  Magdeburgicum  is  conceded  to  it  by 
Boleslas  Wstydliwy  (i 227-1 279).  The  city  of  Casi- 
mir  received  the  Jus  Magdeburgicum  from  Casimir 
the  Great  in  1335  ;  it  has  now  sunk  to  such  a  small 
town  that  the  Russian  Government  has  ordered  it  to 
be  styled  simply  a  posad.  It  was  customary  for  the 
kings,  when  they  gave  a  charter  of  incorporation,  to 
add  the  following  sentence  :  Transfero  hanc  villain 
ex  jure  Polonico  in  jus  Teutonicum.  Many  of  the 
burghers  became  very  rich,  and  we  are  told  by 
Dlugosz  and  Kromer  that  a  certain  citizen  named 
Wierzynek  gave  a  splendid  banquet  to  Casimir  on 
the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  the  king's  grand- 
daughter to  Charles  IV.  of  Germany,  the  beloved 
sovereign  of  the  Chekhs.  At  this  entertainment  the 
kings  of  Denmark  and  Hungary  were  present  and 
also  his  Majesty  of  Cyprus.  Between  the  nobles  and 
the  burghers  the  sharpest  possible  line  of  demarca- 
tion existed  :  a  nobleman  lost  his  rank  by  engaging 
in  any  trade.  A  professional  class  cannot  be  said  to 
have  existed.  All  education  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
ecclesiastics  who  dominated  the  universities,  and 
medicine  was  also  practised  by  them.  But  in  the 
East  of  Europe  at  that  time  medicine  had  hardly 
passed  out  of  the  domain  of  the  quack  and  conjuror. 
As  a  rule  trade  had  made  but  little  progress  in 
Poland,  because  for  a  long  time  no  tribunal  existed 
in  the  country  which  received  the  complaints  of  a 
burgher  against  a  nobleman.  Most  of  the  smaller 
towns  were  in  reality  the  property  of  the  nobles,  and 
were  in  the  same  condition  as  some  of  our  own  in 
early   mediaeval    history.     The    law    of    1768,  which 


THE   PEASANTS.  337 

deprived  the  nobles  of  their  criminal  jurisdiction, 
because  it  was  so  much  abused,  granted  them  as  a 
compensation  the  right  of  increasing  the  services  and 
dues  of  the  burghers.  It  was  not  till  the  year  1747 
that  in  our  own  country  the  criminal  jurisdiction  of 
the  Highland  chieftains  was  abolished.  By  way  of 
compensation  for  the  loss  of  power  ;^i 32,000  was 
granted  by  parliament. 

d.  The  Peasants.  These  had  originally  been 
divided  into  two  classes,  the  first  of  which  included 
those  who  were  personally  free,  but  bound  to  perform 
certain  services.  These  are  more  properly  called  in 
Polish  documents  kmetons,  or  cme tones  in  mediaeval 
Latin  ;  in  Polish  kmieci.  There  is  often,  however,  a 
confusion  in  the  use  of  the  word.  The  second  class 
contained  the  peasants  strictly  so  called,  who  were 
the  property  of  their  masters,  and  had  no  rights.  In 
course  of  time,  by  the  continual  encroachment  of 
the  nobles  upon  the  free  peasants,  they,  like  the 
others,  were  completely  bound  to  the  soil. 

Many  of  the  taxes  which  the  nobles  escaped  were 
paid  by  the  peasants,  and  their  condition  continually 
grew  worse.  Originally  the  land  held  by  the  free 
kmetons  was  of  two  sorts  :  (i)  the  wloka,  or  Ian  (about 
thirty  acres).  This  was  an  inheritable  property,  of 
which  the  lord  could  not  dispossess  him  ;  and  (2),  the 
wolUy  which  was  a  piece  of  land  rented  by  him  for  a 
certain  number  of  years,  so  called  because  it  came 
by  the  will  {ivola)  of  the  lord,  and  he  received  it 
again  when  the  period  had  come  to  an  end.  It 
appears  that  Christmas  time  was  the  usual  period  at 
which  the  tenant  quitted  his  holding.     But  the  early 

23 


338  THE   SOCIAL   CONDITION   OF  POLAND. 

Polish  laws  bear  continual  testimony  to  the  encroach- 
ment and  unjust  conduct  of  the  nobles,  who  had  a 
thousand  ways  of  despoiling  the  kmetons  of  their 
property.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  Casimir  the  Great 
that  he  always  opposed  these  encroachments,  and 
thus  got  his  nickname  previously  mentioned. 

The  final  blow  to  the  independence  of  the  kmetons 
was  given  in  1496  by  the  law  which  forbade  a 
plebeian  to  possess  property  in  land  :  no  distinction 
was  to  be  made  between  the  wloka  and  the  zvola; 
and  thus,  since  a  burgher  also  could  not  possess 
landed  property,  the  nobles  became  the  sole  proprie- 
tors. This  attack  on  the  power  of  acquiring  land 
was,  as  Lelewel  says,  followed  by  outrages  and 
violence  against  personal  liberty.  By  a  clause  in  the 
same  statute,  the  peasant,  who  wished  to  go  from 
one  place  to  another,  must  have  a  missio  from  his 
lord,  as  if  he  was  his  serf.  The  starostas  of  the  dis- 
trict were  forbidden  to  give  them  a  salvus  conducttcs, 
or  passport ;  they  were  even  obliged  to  see  that  the 
kmetons  had  proper  papers  from  the  authorities  of 
the  estate  to  which  they  belonged  ;  a  passport,  in 
fact  from  their  lord,  which  was  the  only  one  of  any 
value.  Those  without  such  passports  were  consi- 
dered fugitives  or  vagabonds  (Terrigenarum  nostrorum 
subditis  kmetonibus,  civibiis,  oppidanis  ant  servis,  capi- 
tanei  locorum  salvos  conductus  dare  nan  debeant^ 
stat.  1504,  1505,  1543).  In  all  law  matters  it  was 
the  lord  who  acted  for  his  kmeton :  the  latter  could 
not  commence  any  proceedings  against  his  lord,  nor 
against  any  other  noble  unless  he  found  a  noble 
protector  who  would  act  for  him.     Then  it  became  a 


THE   KMETOMS.  339 

matter  between  the  nobles  ;  the  knieton  was  only  the 
object  or  occasion  of  the  suit.  We  can  easily  ima- 
gine how  little  chance  there  was  of  obtaining  justice 
under  such  circumstances. 

All  these  oppressions  were  deviations  from  the 
enactments  of  Casimir  the  Great  about  the  kmetons  ; 
he  recognised  their  freedom  and  laboured  to  make  it 
secure.  The  wlokas,  or  inheritable  property  of  the 
kmetons,  were  declared  by  him  to  be  in  no  way  liable 
for  the  debts  of  their  lords.  Thus  in  the  statute  of 
Wislica  we  read :  "  Ex  jure  divino  teneatur  quod 
iniquitas  unius  alteri  non  debeat  obesse.  Statuto 
hoc  debet  teneri,  quod  pro  poena  militis  ant  fidejussoria 
cautione  cine  to  non  debet  impi^norari,  sed  si  tenetur 
miles  aut  quivis  alter  solvat  de  propriis  bonis.''  Ac- 
cording to  the  same  statute  the  kmetons  had  the  right 
of  quitting  their  masters.  In  Poland,  as  in  Russia, 
all  history  points  to  the  gradual  enslavement  of  the 
lower  orders.  For  the  murder  of  a  peasant  a  fine 
was  enacted  as  a  penalty  in  1347.  Kromer  tells  us 
distinctly  that  the  lord  had  power  of  life  and  death 
over  his  serfs.  This  continued  in  force  till  1768, 
when  it  was  first  declared  by  law  that  the  murder  of 
a  peasant  was  a  capital  crime,  but  the  infliction  of 
this  punishment  was  surrounded  with  so  many  diffi- 
ties  that  in  reality  it  could  rarely  be  enforced.  Thus 
the  murderer  must  be  taken  red-handed,  and  this 
fact  must  be  proved  by  two  noblemen  or  four 
peasants  ;  if  he  was  not  taken  in  the  act,  and  the 
requisite  number  of  witnesses  was  not  found, 
he  was  only  to  pay  a  fine.  The  old  law  valued 
each   of  these  serfs    at  ten  marks,  or  according   to 


340         THE  SOCIAL   CONDITION  OF  POLAND. 

the  value  of  money  at  the  time,  about  twelve 
shillings. 

Many  instances  occurred  of  the  shameful  abuse 
of  their  power  by  the  nobles.  Hauteville  says  :  "  A 
stranger  is  surprised  at  such  a  heathenish  custom 
(of  the  lord  having  the  power  of  life  and  death),  and 
takes  the  liberty  to  ask  them  how  Christians  can 
assume  a  privilege  so  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  their 
religion.  They  usually  reply :  "  that  though  they 
have  such  a  power  they  never  make  use  of  it,  no 
more  than  we  and  other  Christians  use  the  power  we 
have  to  kill  our  horses,  adding  that  the  peasants 
serve  them  instead  of  beasts  ! "  In  the  old  volume  of 
travels  of  Peter  Mundy,  previously  quoted,  we  get 
the  same  description  of  the  miserable  condition  of 
the  Polish  serf,  "  For  the  common  sort  of  people,"  he 
adds,  "  they  are  .  .  .  like  slaves  or  beasts,  allowed  no 
more  than  will  serve  to  keep  them  alive,  and  in  such 
case  as  they  may  be  able  to  labour  again."  He  also 
tells  us  that  their  master,  if  he  killed  one  of  them, 
only  had  to  pay  a  fine.  All  travellers  concur  in 
representing  the  condition  of  the  peasantry  as  most 
wretched.  Poland  has  suffered  so  much  that  it 
seems  cruel  to  heap  reproaches  upon  her  in  her 
agonies,  but  the  justice  of  history  must  be  main- 
tained, and  in  order  to  realise  to  ourselves  their 
condition,  we  must  turn  to  the  pages  of  Coxe. 

He  thus  writes :  "  Without  having  actually  tra- 
versed it,  I  could  hardly  have  conceived  so  comfort- 
less a  region  ;  a  forlorn  stillness  and  solitude  prevailed 
almost  through  the  whole  extent,  with  few  symptoms 
of  an  inhabited,  and  still  less  of  a  civilised,  country. 


THE    VILLAGES.  34I 

Though  we  were  travelling  in  the  high  road  which 
unites  Cracow  and  Warsaw,  in  the  course  of  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty-eight  English  miles,  we  met 
in  our  progress  only  two  carriages  and  about  a  dozen 
carts.  The  country  was  equally  thin  of  human 
habitations ;  a  few  straggling  villages  all  built  of  wood, 
succeeded  one  another  at  long  intervals,  whose  miser- 
able appearance  corresponded  to  the  wretchedness  of 
the  country  round  them.  In  these  assemblages  of 
huts  the  only  places  of  reception  for  travellers  were 
hovels  belonging  to  Jews,  totally  destitute  of  furni- 
ture and  every  species  of  accommodation.  We  could 
seldom  procure  any  other  room  but  that  in  which  the 
family  lived  ;  in  the  article  of  provision,  eggs  and 
milk  were  our  greatest  luxuries,  and  could  not  always 
be  obtained  ;  our  only  bed  was  straw  thrown  upon 
the  ground,  and  we  thought  ourselves  happy  when 
we  could  procure  it  clean.  .  .  .  The  natives  were 
poorer,  humbler,  and  more  miserable  than  any  people 
we  had  yet  observed  in  the  course  of  our  travels  ; 
wherever  we  stopped  they  flocked  around  us  in 
crowds,  and,  asking  for  charity,  used  the  most  abject 
gestures.  The  road  bore  as  few  marks  of  industry  as 
the  country  which  it  intersects  ;  in  other  places  it 
was  scarcely  passable;  and  in  the  marshy  ground, 
where  some  labour  was  absolutely  necessary  to  make 
it  support  the  carriages,  it  was  raised  with  sticks  and 
boughs  of  trees  thrown  promiscuously  upon  the  sur- 
face, or  formed  by  trunks  of  trees  laid  crossways. 
After  a  tedious  journey  we  at  length  approached 
Warsaw  ;  but  the  roads  being  neither  more  passable, 
nor  the  country  better  cultivated,  and  the  suburbs, 


342  THE   SOCIAL   CONDITION   OF   POLAND, 

chiefly  consisting  of  wooden  hovels,  which  compose 
the  villages,  we  had  no  suspicion  of  being  near  the 
capital  of  Poland  till  we  arrived  at  its  gates." 

Nearly  a  century  before,  Hauteville,  whose  work 
was  translated  into  English  in  1689,  thus  describes 
the  Polish  cottages  :  "  The  furniture  of  their  houses 
consists  of  some  earthen  or  wooden  dishes,  and  a  bed, 
which  they  make  of  chaff  and  feathers,  with  a  sort  of 
coverlet  over  it.  Their  stoves  have  no  chimney  to  let 
out  the  smoke,  so  that  their  huts  are  always  full  of  a 
thick  smoke,  which  has  no  other  passage  but  a  small 
window  about  four  foot  from  the  ground.  When  they 
go  into  their  cottages  they  are  forced  to  stoop  that 
they  may  not  be  stifled  with  the  smoke,  which  is  so 
thick  above  the  little  window  that  one  cannot  see 
the  roof,  and  yet  'tis  impossible  to  go  to  bed  in  the 
winter  without  stoves."  We  know  from  Harrison's 
"  England  "  that  the  cottage  of  the  English  peasant  first 
had  a  chimney  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
the  wiseacres  of  the  time  prophesied  that  their  intro- 
duction would  soon  be  followed  by  rural  degeneration. 
Hauteville  gives  pretty  much  the  same  description  of 
the  inns  as  Coxe  :  "  There  are  no  inns  in  Poland 
where  one  may  lodge  conveniently  and  be  accommo- 
dated with  a  bed.  The  only  houses  of  entertainment 
are  places  built  of  wood,  which  they  call  Karczma, 
where  travellers  are  obliged  to  lodge  with  the  horses, 
cows,  and  hogs,  in  a  long  stable  made  of  boards,  ill- 
joined,  and  thatched  with  straw.  'Tis  true  that  there 
is  a  chamber  at  the  end  of  it  with  a  stove,  but  'tis 
impossible  for  one  to  lodge  in  it  in  the  summer,  for 
they  never  open  the  windows  even   in  the   hottest 


COURLAND.  343 

weather  ;  so  that  strangers  choose  rather  to  lie  in 
the  stables  in  the  summer  than  in  the  chamber. 
And,  besides,  the  gospodarz,  or  innkeeper,  lodges  in 
that  room  with  his  children  and  whole  family.  Those 
who  have  occasion  to  trav^el  in  the  summer  may  avoid 
part  of  these  inconveniences  by  lying  in  a  barn  on 
fresh  straw  ;  for  the  gospodarz  gathers  and  locks  up 
every  morning  the  straw  which  was  given  at  night  to 
those  who  lodged  in  the  stable  or  chamber,  in  order  to 
reserve  it  for  those  who  shall  come  to  lodge  after 
them."  We  have  given  these  sketches  from  early 
travellers  in  all  their  freshness,  to  illustrate  the 
miserable  condition  of  the  Polish  peasant.  In 
justice,  however,  to  the  Poles  we  must  remember 
that  the  condition  of  the  peasantry  in  many  other 
parts  of  Europe  was  no  better.  Thus  in  the  interest- 
ing Httle  work,  "  An  Account  of  Livonia,  with  a  rela- 
tion of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Decay  of  the  Marian 
Teutonic  Order,"  8z:c.  (London,  1701),  we  get  the 
following  description  of  the  condition  of  the 
peasantry  in  those  parts :  "  The  nobility  here  have 
great  privileges  and  immunities,  being  invested 
with  full  jurisdiction,  civil  and  criminal,  over  their 
boors."  Concerning  the  nobility  of  Courland,  the 
author  says  :  "  They  have  absoliitum  imperium,  with 
the  power  of  life  and  death  over  their  subjects  or 
peasants,  yet  they  always  in  criminal  cases  keep 
a  judiciary  court,  inviting  judges  or  assessores 
judicii,  and,  besides,  there  is  a  sort  of  jury  of  their 
equals.  These  poor  wretches  pay  so  much  respect 
to  their  lord  and  masters  that  it  comes  near  adoration, 
which  makes  the  gentry  not  a  little  haughty,  looking 


344         ^^^   SOCIAL    CONDITION   OF   POLAND. 

Upon  themselves  to  be  born  with  a  kind  of  sovereignty, 
like  the  noblemen  of  Venice  ;  and,  therefore,  very 
seldom  a  nobleman  of  Curonia  [Comlmd]  can  settle 
or  abide  anywhere,  or  if  he  does,  'tis  with  much  un- 
easiness, for  here  they  are  all  upon  a  level,  therefore  a 
count  or  a  baron  that  is  settled  among  them  has  no 
precedency  or  more  esteem  than  another  gentleman 
(that  is  to  say,  those  who  are  allowed  to  be  gentle- 
men), by  reason  the  gentry  here  have  the  same 
liberties  and  privileges  as  in  other  places,  and  are  of 
ancient  noble  extraction,  without  spot  or  blemish  ; 
besides,  everything  is  so  cheap  here  that  they  live  on 
vast  plenty,  being  furnished  with  all  necessaries  from 
their  vassals  and  peasants  almost  for  nothing,  there- 
fore they  can  at  an  easy  rate  maintain  a  great 
equipage  and  numerous  attendance." 

We  must  remember  that  the  nobles  in  these  (the 
Baltic  provinces)  were  chiefly  of  German  origin. 
Again,  speaking  of  the  peasants  of  Livonia,  the 
same  writer  says  :  "  All  those  inhabitants  of  Livonia 
that  have  been  subdued  by  the  Germans  are  men- 
tioned under  the  name  of  boors,  and  continue  slaves, 
both  they  and  their  children.  ...  I  find  their  con- 
dition in  many  things  better  than  that  of  the  peasants 
in  Germany,  who  are  every  day  afresh  persecuted  with 
troops  that  quarter  upon  them,  constant  taxes,  and 
hard  labour. 

"They  readily  submit  to  the  old  custom  of  being 
whipped  with  rods  for  any  fault  committed.  ...  It 
may  be  said  of  these  countries,  as  'twas  formerly  said 
of  Poland :  Es^  CobIhui  Nob  ilium,  Paradisus  Clericoniin^ 
Aurifodina  Advenarum,  et  Infernus  Rusticoruin" 


THE   JEWS.  345 

e.  The  Jews.  These  always  formed  a  large  element 
of  the  Polish  population.  They  entered  Poland  in 
early  times,  and  Casimi  the  Great  gave  them  many 
important  privileges.  Lengnich,  the  author  of  Jits 
Publicum  Regni  Poloni,  who  lived  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  speaks  of  them  as 
monopolising  the  commerce  of  the  country.  They  were 
ordinarily  stewards  to  the  nobles  as  well  as  proprietors 
of  the  miserable  inns  to  be  found  in  Poland.  Sobieski 
especially  favoured  them.  They  are  still  to  be  found 
everywhere  in  the  dismembered  country  ;  in  Galicia 
they  are  conspicuous  by  the  long  curls  which  they 
wear  in  front  of  their  ears.  These  curls  are  not  to 
be  discovered  in  Russian  Poland,  as  they  were  for- 
bidden by  an  ukase  of  Nicholas. 

The  Government  of  Poland.  The  general  Polish 
diet  {Sejm)  was  supreme  :  it  declared  war  and  peace, 
levied  soldiers,  imposed  taxes,  and  enacted  laws  ; 
originally,  like  the  English  parlliment,  it  was  held 
in  various  places  ;  in  early  times  Piotrkow  was 
especially  favoured.  But  when  in  1569,  at  the  diet 
of  Lublin,  the  closer  union  of  Poland  and  Lithuania 
took  place,  Warsaw  was  the  city  where  it  was  gene- 
rally arranged  that  the  deputies  should  meet.  In 
1673  it  was  enacted  that  of  three  successive  diets, 
two  should  be  at  Warsaw,  and  the  third  at  Grodno. 

The  gradual  growth  of  the  diet  has  been  described 
in  our  earlier  pages.  Although  we  hear  of  the  election 
of  the  peasant  Piast  from  the  ranks  of  the  people,  we 
do  not  find  in  early  Polish  history  anything  corres- 
ponding to  the  Russian  veche.  The  organisation  of 
society  was  purely  military,  and  nothing  more  ;  the 


346         THE   SOCIAL   CONDITION  OF  POLAND. 

lands  were  divided  into  opo/ja,  and  in  the  fortresses 
the  generals,  appointed  by  the  king  or  prince,  com- 
manded, and  were  called  castellans. 

The  ordinary  diet  was  convened  every  two  years, 
the  extraordinary  wlien  occasion  demanded.  The 
nuntii  {posly)  were  the  members  returned  by  the 
assemblies  of  each  palatinate,  called  sejmiki.  The 
highest  ecclesiastical  dignities  were  those  of  the  two 
archbishops  of  the  land,  and  the  thirteen  bishops  : 
the  highest  civil  dignities  were  those  of  the  thirty- 
five  palatines,  the  thirty  greater  castellans  of  the 
kingdom  (majores  castellani),  and  forty-nine  lesser 
castellans  (minores),  who  likewise  with  ten  other 
officers  of  state,  formed  the  senate. 

The  Palatines  and  Castellans  were  governors  of  the 
palatinates  or  provinces,  and  held  the  office  for  life : 
the  palatine  having  the  direction  of  the  whole  province, 
like  our  lords-lieutenant ;  the  castellan  of  a  district. 
According  to  Bernard  Connor,  immediately  after  the 
palatines  and  the  other  four  privileged  persons  came  the 
several  castellans,  who  were  all  senators  and  lieutenants 
to  the  palatines  in  time  of  war,  leading  the  gentry  of 
their  jurisdiction  into  the  field  under  the  command  of 
the  palatines.  Of  the  castellans  there  were  several 
in  every  palatinate,  who  were  distinguished  by  the 
title  of  greater  or  lesser ;  the  greater  were  so  called 
because,  with  the  exception  of  a  few,  they  took  the 
names  of  their  castellanries  from  palatinates  ;  whereas 
the  lesser  took  theirs  only  from  districts,  which  made 
them  sometimes  called  castellani  districtuum.  More- 
over, the  lesser  castellans  sat  only  on  benches  behind 
the  other  senators.     All  sat  in  one  large  room  :  the 


THE   SZLACHTA,  347 

king  under  a  canopy  on  a  raised  throne  ;  the  bishops, 
palatines,  and  castellans,  in  three  rows  of  arm-chairs, 
extending  from  the  throne  on  each  side  in  the 
body  of  the  hall,  and  the  nuntii  {posly)  behind 
them.  A  good  picture  of  the  assembled  diet  is 
given  by  Bernard  Connor  (see  page   189). 

The  Administration  of  Justice.  The  Statute  of 
Wislica  defines  carefully  the  limits  possessed  by  the 
tribunals  of  the  palatines,  castellans,  and  others,  as 
well  as  of  the  cases  in  which  appeals  could  be  carried 
either  to  the  king  or  senate.  Criminal  affairs  lay  within 
the  cognisance  of  the  starosty,  who  were  nobles  hold- 
ing an  estate  of  the  Crown,  and  the  castellans  ;  the 
questions  of  disputed  boundaries,  with  some  other 
matters,  belonged  to  the  succamerarii  or  provincial 
chamberlains  ;  more  important  disputes  about  pro- 
perty, and  inheritance,  and  crimes  of  high  treason, 
were  carried  either  before  the  palatinal,  or  the  royal, 
courts.  This  statute  continued  to  form  the  basis  of 
Polish  legislation  to  the  close  of  last  century.  In  a 
previous  chapter  the  great  importance  of  the  statute 
of  Nieszawa  has  been  alluded  to.  Hube,  the  writer  on 
Polish  jurisprudence,  who  died  in  1890,  has  shown, 
that  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  only 
the  Polish  panowie  enjoyed  any  political  importance, 
and  they  tried  to  make  this  influence  hereditary. 
Under  the  title  pan  (Lat.,  bard),  the  panozvie  were 
distinguished  not  only  from  the  szlachta,  but  from 
the  members  of  their  families,  who  were  called 
proceres.  The  ssiachta,  that  is  to  say,  the  nobility 
who  discharged  the  duties  of  no  office,  had  not 
the   slightest   political    importance.     This   condition 


1 


348  THE    SOCIAL    CONDITION   OF  POLAND. 

of  things  was  changed  with  the  termination  of  the 
dynasty  of  the  Piasts.  The  members  of  this  family 
governed  the  country  according  to  the  ancient  cus- 
toms, with  which  they  were  well  acquainted,  and 
followed  the  traditions  of  the  leading  families.  The 
kings  of  the  newly-elected  line,  unacquainted  with 
the  ancient  rules,  and  strong  in  their  position,  like 
the  monarchs  of  the  neighbouring  kingdoms  already 
formed,  e.g.,  Hungary  and  Lithuania,  proposed  to  pre- 
vent ihcpanozvie  from  exclusive  holding  of  government 
appointments.  But  the  paitoivie  devised  a  new 
scheme,  and  endeavoured  to  get  a  legal  definition 
of  their  status,  which  they  hoped  to  secure,  and  to 
guarantee  to  themselves  a  long  list  of  privileges. 
Their  real  strength,  however,  lay  in  the  military 
order.  And  thus,  to  preserve  their  former  condition, 
the  panowie  began  to  procure  for  the  szlachta  the 
right  of  dealing  with  state  affairs,  so  that  they  might 
have  a  united  body  in  case  of  any  collision  with  the 
king. 

The  kings  also,  from  the  year  1404,  began  to  turn 
their  attention  to  the  szlachta,  remarking  its  growing 
importance.  It  is  thus  that  in  the  year  1454,  the 
date  of  the  Statute  of  Nieszawa,  we  get  a  confirma- 
tion of  all  the  rights  and  privileges  which  the  szlachta 
had  actually  become  possessed  of  at  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century. 

Speaking  generally,  the  fifteenth  century  was  of 
great  importance  in  the  history  of  Polish  political 
life,  for  it  determines  beforehand  all  the  further 
development  of  the  constitution.  The  relations 
between  the  ranks  of  society  were  accurately  marked 


POLISH  LEGISLATION.  349 

out,   the    dietines   or    sejmiki    came    into   existence, 
and  the  chief  diet  {sejni)  was  developed. 

Hube  has  characterised  Poh'sh  legislation  by  mark- 
ing it  out  into  five  distinct  periods  : 

1.  Thisincludes  the  time  till  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  history  of  Poland  during  this  period  is 
united  with  the  general  history  of  the  Western  Slavs, 
only  towards  the  conclusion  the  Polish  nation  begins 
to  form  a  separate  political  whole.  The  prevalence 
of  democratic  elements  characterises  this  period,  as 
previously  described  in  Chapter  II.  We  find  the 
early  Poles  living  in  their  communes,  and  titles  were 
unknown  among  them. 

2.  The  second  part  embraces  the  period  during 
which  the  Piasts  ruled  (962-1386).  At  this  time  the 
authority  of  the  monarch  is  supreme  ;  at  first  he 
is  merely  a  duke,  and   afterwards  a  king. 

3.  The  period  of  the  rule  of  the  Jagiellos  (1386- 
1572)  ;  by  the  side  of  the  regal  power  the  nobility 
rises  into  importance.  Poland,  which  has  become 
politically  strengthened  in  the  second  period,  in 
the  third  assumes  considerable  importance  among 
European  powers. 

4.  The  fourth  period  (i 572-1793)  comprehends 
the  time  from  the  election  of  their  kings  to  the 
last  division  of  Poland.  In  this  period  tJie  nobility 
has  become  the  nation^  and  has  appropriated  the 
supreme  power,  and  the  king  has  become  only  one 
of  the  political  factors. 

5.  This  period  represents  the  renewal,  at  least  in 
part,  of  the  political  life  of  Poland  by  the  establish- 
ment   of    the  grand    duchy    of   Warsaw,   and    after- 


350         THE   SOCIAL   CONDITION  OF  POLAND. 

wards  of  the  kingdom  of  Poland.  In  this  period 
the  nation  loses  its  independence,  and  is  subject  to 
external  influences.  To  these  divisions,  Poland  up 
to  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  and  Poland  after 
the  dismemberment  of  the  country,  seem,  as  it  were, 
the  prologue  and  the  epilogue. 

During  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  the 
number  of  the  nobility  increased  greatly,  because 
so  many  provinces  were  united  to  the  Crown,  and 
the  Lithuanians  and  Red-Russians  were  admitted 
to  the  privileges  of  the  equestrian  order.  The 
nobles  forming  no  alliance  out  of  their  own  class 
became  a  special  caste,  which  could  not  endure  that 
any  other  members  of  the  state  should  enter  it. 
It  was  an  aristocracy  intoxicated  with  itself,  and 
unconscious  of  the  new  forces  which  were  gradually 
arising  round  it,  an  anachronism  in  the  history  of  the 
nations  ;  for  nations  must  grow  like  the  human  body. 

The  Jews  were  of  course  the  merest  pariahs, 
compelled  to  wear  a  yellow  cape,  like  the  pieces  of 
yellow  felt  sewn  on  the  breasts  of  their  brethren  in 
the  Middle  Ages  in  England. 

The  boiu'geoisie  was  completely  ignored,  having 
no  power,  political  or  legislative.  The  legislation 
only  acknowledged  two  classes  of  people  in  Poland^ 
the  nobles,  ordo  equestris,  and  the  ignoble,  populus, 
plebs ;  all  the  burghers,  in  the  eyes  of  the  nobles, 
were  on  the  same  footing  as  the  kmetons,  civitatenses, 
oppidani,  et  cmetones.  Each  noble  was  master  in  his 
own  territories.  By  an  ancient  fiction  the  king  was 
considered  proprietor  of  all  the  lands  which  did  not 
belong  to  the  nobles,  but  he  was  only  master  to  the 


THE  KMETONS.  35 T 

extent  that  he  could  not  ah'cne  or  encumber  them. 
It  was  a  different  possession  from  that  of  the  nobihty, 
but  a  comparison  was  deduced  from  it.  As  the  king 
possessed  in  his  domains  cities,  boroughs,  and 
villages,  so  the  nobility  counted  among  its  domains 
cities,  boroughs,  and  villages ;  as  the  civitatenses, 
oppidani,  and  cmetones  were  subjects  of  the  king,  so 
those  belonging  to  the  domains  of  the  nobles  are 
subjects  to  the  nobles.  Thus  Kromer  says  in  his 
description  of  Poland :  "  Plebes  urbancE,  oppidance, 
vicance  et  agrestes,  partim  principi  parent,  partim 
proceribus  et  equitibus^  partim  certis  sacerdotiis  attri- 
butcB  simtr  He  also  says  of  the  burghers  and 
kmetons  :  "  Utriqiie  Chlopi  appellantur,  quam  appella- 
tionem  velut  probrosam  non  fert  nobilitas."  Connor, 
in  his  work  on  Poland,  gives  us  the  same  miserable 
account  of  the  serfs.  He  tells  us  that  they  have  no 
sense  of  law  or  justice,  and  scarce  any  religion 
among  them.  They  were  forced  to  work  on  Sundays, 
and  had  no  courts  to  which  they  could  appeal  for 
redress.  These  serfs  could  never  have  anything  of 
their  own,  nor  ever  become  free,  unless  they  could 
get  into  a  convent  or  be  ordained  priests.  "  But," 
he  adds,  "  most  commonly  their  lords  have  a  watch- 
ful eye  upon  them  and  obviate  all  their  plans." 
According  to  this  writer,  when  a  lord  sold  his  lands 
the  serfs  commonly  went  along  with  it,  although  he 
could  dispose  of  either  separately  if  he  pleased. 

And  now,  to  conclude  this  somewhat  rambling 
chapter,  let  us  have  a  glance  at  the  dress  of  the 
Poles  in  the  time  of  Sobieski,  from  the  pages  of 
Connor, 


352         THE   SOCIAL    CONDITION  OF  POLAND. 

"  Their  present  fashion  is  a  vest  that  reaches  down 
to  the  middle  of  their  legs,  with  a  long  robe,  not 
unlike  our  morning  gowns,  lined  with  fur  and  tied 
about  their  waists  with  a  sash  ;  little  boots  with 
iron  heels  on  their  legs  and  furred  caps  upon  their 
heads,  with  a  sabre  or  cutlass  girt  about  their  loins. 
When  they  appear  on  horseback,  which  is  one  of 
their  chief  delights,  they  wear,  besides  all  that  has 
been  mentioned,  a  short  cloak  that  liangs  over  their 
shoulders,  much  like  an  Irish  mantle,  which  is  most 
commonly  furred  within  and  without. 

"  The  better,  that  is  the  richer  sort,  make  use  of  the 
furs  of  sable,  which  are  brought  from  Muscovy,  when 
the  others  content  themselves  with  the  skins  of 
tigers,  leopards,  panthers,  and  a  kind  of  grey  furs. 
Some  of  the  finest  of  these  furs  cost  above  a 
thousand  crowns,  but  they  are  worn  only  at  diets, 
and  descend  from  father  to  son."  He  adds  after- 
wards :  "  Some  few  of  the  Poles  imitate  the  French 
fashion,  and  wear  linen,  lace  point,  perukes,  and 
swords.  The  ordinary  sort  of  gentry,  and  even 
some  of  the  great  men,  put  sifted  chaff  into  their 
boots,  which  serves  them  instead  of  socks.  The 
women  formerly  had  only  garlands  on  their  heads, 
composed  of  gold,  gems,  flowers,  silk,  and  the  like  ; 
but  now  they  wear  silk  caps  lined  with  fur,  like  the 
men.  They  also  formerly  imitated  the  women  of 
foreign  countries,  and  in  the  late  reign  all  the  women 
of  quality,  particularly  those  that  resided  at  Court, 
followed  the  French  mode.  King  John  III.'s  queen 
being  of  that  nation.  Both  women  and  men  are 
extravagant  to  an  infinite  degree,  in  so  much  that 


POLISH  DRESS.  353 

some  among  them  will  have  fifty  suits  of  clothes  at 
once,  all  as  rich  as  possible  ;  but  what  shows  their 
prodigality  yet  more  is,  that  they  will  almost  have 
their  servants  go  as  well  dressed  as  themselves,  whereby 
they  generally  soon  spend  their  estates,  and  are 
reduced  in  a  short  time  to  the  extremest  want. 

"  Both  men  and  women  are  always  attended  with  a 
great  number  of  servants  of  both  sexes,  the  women 
to  wait  on  the  women,  and  the  men  on  the  men. 
The  principal  senators  always  ride  or  walk  in  the 
middle  of  their  retinue,  putting  the  best  clothed  of 
their  servants  before  them.  When  the  gentry  of 
either  sex  go  abroad  a-nights,  they  have  twenty-four 
or  more  white  wax  flambeaux  carried  before  their 
coach.  Women  of  quality  generally  have  their 
trains  borne  up  by  he  or  she-dwarfs.  These  ladies 
have  also  with  them  an  old  woman  which  they  call 
their  governante  (sic),  and  an  old  gentleman  for  their 
gentleman  usher,  whose  office  is  to  follow  their  coach 
on  foot  and  to  help  them  out  of  it  when  they  alight. 
It  may  be  remarked  that  their  coaches  go  always 
very  slow  and  gravely." 

As  regards  the  dress  of  the  peasants,  Connor  tells 
us  that  in  winter  time  they  wore  a  sheep-skin 
with  the  wool  on,  like  the  Russian  tuh/Jf,  and  in 
summer  a  close-fitting  coat  of  coarse  stuff.  They 
wore  caps  on  their  heads,  and  sometimes  had  boots, 
but  most  commonly  the  bark  of  trees  wrapped  round 
them,  with  the  thicker  part  to  guard  the  soles  of  their 
feet  against  the  stones.  These  would  correspond  to 
the  Russian  /apti  Connor  tells  us  that  the  Lithua- 
nians wore  the  same  kind  of  shoes  which  they  called 

24 


354         ^^^   SOCIAL   CONDITION   OF   POLAND. 

chodakys  [things  to  walk  in].  Stockings  also  they 
made  of  very  tender  bark,  which  they  wound  about 
the  calves  of  their  legs.  Before  they  came  into  any 
town  they  always  took  care  to  put  on  fresh  chodakys. 
These  were  made  by  the  villagers,  so  that  it  was  a 
common  jest  in  Poland  that  there  were  more  shoe- 
makers in  Lithuania  than  in  all  Europe  besides. 
"  The  same  people  likewise  wear  a  sort  of  habit  with 
sleeves  woven  all  of  a  piece.  This  they  call  samo- 
dzialka.  It  is  commonly  grey  and  very  thick,  and 
worn  equally  by  men  and  women  among  the  rustics.'* 

Of  the  appearance  of  the  Poles  generally  our  author 
remarks  that  their  complexion  was  fair  and  their  hair 
of  a  "  pale  yellowish  colour."  They  were  commonly 
of  middle  stature,  but  tending  somewhat  to  be  tall. 
Their  constitutions  were  for  the  most  part  good  and 
their  bodies  gross.  Yet  the  women  of  quality  made 
it  their  chief  study  to  become  lean  and  slim  ;  but 
painting  and  washes,  adds  Connor,  to  meliorate  [sic] 
their  complexions  they  abhor  ;  neither  have  they  any 
occasion  for  them. 

Of  their  dwellings  he  tells  us  that  the  Poles  never 
lived  above  stairs,  and  their  houses  were  not  united. 
The  kitchen  was  on  one  side,  the  stable  on  another,  the 
dwelling  on  another,  and  the  gate  in  front,  all  which 
make  a  court  either  square  or  round.  Their  houses 
were  for  the  most  part  of  wood,  though  occasionally 
some  were  to  be  seen  of  brick  and  stone.  Any  one 
familiar  with  the  East  of  Europe  will  know  how  these 
characteristics  have  been  maintained  till  the  present 
day. 

Turning  from  our  discussion  of  the  political  and 


THE   NOBILITY,  355 

social  condition  of  Poland,  let  us  now  endeavour  to 
trace  the  causes  of  the  fall  of  this  once  powerful 
state,  dominant,  let  us  remember,  at  one  time 
throughout  Eastern  Europe.  We  believe  the  follow- 
ing will  be  found  among  the  chief  causes  : — 

I.  The  want  of  patriotism  among  the  nobility. 
Most  of  them  preferred  their  own  family  and  local 
interests  to  that  of  the  nation  at  large.  Power  was 
given  them  to  gratify  their  private  likes  and 
dislikes  by  the  pernicious  custom  of  allowing  each 
noble  to  keep  an  army  of  retainers.  Poland  seemed 
continually  in  a  state  resembling  that  of  England 
during  the  time  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  or  Scot- 
land in  the  period  of  the  clans.  There  was  no 
statute  of  maintenance  in  Poland,  as  in  England,  to 
do  away  with  this  anomalous  state  of  things.  We 
have  seen  frequently  throughout  this  work  in  what  a 
turbulent  style  the  nobles  made  their  appearance 
with  bodies  of  horsemen  at  the  diets  or  the  elections 
of  the  kings,  so  that  bloodshed  was  frequent.  Hence 
the  continual  occurrence  of  the  rebellion  called  rokosz, 
which  has  been  already  alluded  to  in  our  pages.  By 
these  outbreaks  the  military  expeditions  of  the  kings 
were  often  paralysed.  Some  writers  have  expressed 
their  approval  of  this  institution  on  the  ground  that 
it  enabled  minorities  in  the  kingdom  to  express  their 
disagreement  with  public  undertakings ;  but  such 
want  of  cohesion  on  national  questions  tended  greatly 
to  weaken  Poland.  The  nobility  too  often  showed 
the  feeling  of  selfish  oligarchs. 

2.  A    second    cause   was    the    intolerance   of    the 
clergy.      The   persecution    of   the    members   of    the 


356  THE   SOCIAL    CONDITION  OF  POLAND. 

Orthodox  Church  and  of  the  Dissidents  played  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemies  of  the  country.  The 
Prussians  were  ready  to  assist  the  Protestants,  the 
Russians  the  members  of  the  Greek  Church.  It  was 
a  reHgious  persecution  in  the  main  which  led  the 
Cossacks  of  the  Dnieper  to  sever  their  connection 
with  Poland.  The  mischievous  influence  of  the 
Jesuits  made  itself  felt  throughout  the  realm.  We 
must  remember,  however,  in  justice  to  the  Poles,  how 
late  among  other  peoples,  and  even  ourselves,  ideas 
of  religious  toleration  have  grown  up.  The  present 
century  first  saw  in  England  the  removal  of  the 
disabilities  of  the  Roman  Catholics  ;  it  was  not  till 
the  year  i86o  that  Jews  were  admitted  into  Parlia- 
ment. 

3.  The  absence  of  any  middle  class  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  word,  and  the  impossibility  of  one  being 
formed  owing  to  the  constitution  of  the  country. 
There  was  no  class  to  mediate  between  the  noble 
and  the  serf  The  burghers  in  the  Polish  towns  had 
alien  interests,  and  the  fact  that  no  middle  class  had 
been  formed  in  Poland,  as  was  the  case  with  other 
nations,  in  which  it  had  gradually  developed  itself 
upon  the  decay  of  feudalism,  caused  that  unhappy 
country  to  be  in  reality  an  anomaly  among  nations  : — 

**  Mancus  et  extinct ce  corpus  non  utile  dextra^ 

4.  It  was  impossible  that  any  real  feelings  of 
patriotism  or  love  of  country  could  be  developed 
among  a  class  in  such  a  wretched  condition  as  the 
Polish  serfs.  They  were  too  ignorant  to  understand 
politics,  and  sentiments  of  patriotism  could  not  be  in- 


THE   POLISH   KINGS.  357 

stilled  in  them.  They  had  absolutely  no  rights  against 
their  masters  :  no  one  cared  to  work  more  than  he 
was  actually  obliged,  because  no  one  could  acquire 
anything.  The  only  pleasure  of  the  peasants  was 
drinking  in  the  karczma  on  Sundays,  where  they 
forgot  their  miseries  in  dancing  and  intoxication. 
The  forced  labour,  or  barszczyna,  due  from  them  to 
their  lords,  weighed  upon  them  nearly  all  the  week. 
Many  of  the  nobility,  as  at  the  present  day  in  Poland, 
enjoyed  the  monopoly  of  the  sale  of  spirits,  and  were 
therefore  interested  in  as  much  being  consumed  as 
possible.  We  have  seen  in  our  own  days,  in  Galicia, 
a  complaint  brought  against  a  philanthropic  eccle- 
siastic who,  pained  at  the  intoxication  of  his  parish- 
ioners, had  induced  many  to  sign  the  pledge.  He 
was  accused  of  diminishing  the  revenues  of  the  local 
squire. 

5.  Professor  Bobrzynski  enumerates,  among  the 
other  misfortunes  of  Poland,  the  want  of  men  of 
talent  and  energy  among  her  sovereigns.  She  had 
some  vigorous  rulers,  such  as  Boleslas  the  Brave  and 
Casimir  the  Great.  "  Yet,"  he  continues,  "  whereas 
France  had  Francis  I.,  Henry  IV.,  and  Louis  XIV.  ; 
England,  Henry  VIII.  and  Elizabeth  ;  Spain,  Charles 
V.  and  Philip  II.  ;  Austria,  the  Ferdinands  ;  Sweden, 
Gustavus  Vasa,  Charles  of  Sudermania,  and  Gustavus 
Adolphus  ;  Russia,  Ivan  and  Peter — we  have  only 
a  weak  honest  man  in  Sigismund  I.  ;  Sigismund 
Augustus  who  proved  a  coward  in  all  matters  where 
action  and  honest  conviction  were  required,  and 
Sigismund  Vasa  (III.)  conspiring  for  our  destruction. 
The  genius  oi  Batory  shone,  but  only  for  a  while  ;  he 


358         THE   SOCIAL    CONDITION   OF   POLAND. 

created  capable  men,  but  had  not  time  to  improve 
our  institutions.  Of  our  later  kings,  Ladislaus  IV. 
merely  deceived  the  country,  bringing  it  into  a  worse 
condition,  although  with  good  intentions.  Of  Wis- 
niowiecki  and  the  Saxon  kings  it  is  idle  to  make 
mention.  The  genius  of  Sobieski  seemed  only 
created  for  war,  and  contrasts  in  a  glaring  manner 
with  the  mistakes  of  his  policy.  We  may  stop 
awhile  to  contemplate  John  Casimir  and  Stanislaus 
Poniatowski  ;  but  while  we  grant  them  merits,  we 
find  them  wanting  in  capacity  and  energy.  The 
history  of  no  other  country  shows  such  a  cruel  fate  as 
ours." 

It  seems,  then,  that  if  we  add  to  these  elements  of 
weakness  in  the  country  the  fact  that  it  had  no 
natural  frontiers — for  indeed  it  was  a  vast  plain  open 
to  incursions  on  all  sides — and  powerful  enemies  on 
those  artificial  frontiers  which  were  the  only  ones  it 
had,  we  cannot  wonder  that  it  was  ready  to  fall  to  pieces. 
But  it  is  impossible  to  read  the  record  of  its  death 
struggles  without  pain  and  sympathy.  Nor  does  it 
become  the  native  of  a  prosperous  country,  which  has 
perhaps  earned  a  greater  reputation  for  material 
progress  than  for  quixotic  sentimentality,  to  coldly 
dissect  the  half-living  frame  of  suffering  Poland, 
stretched  upon  the  table  of  the  anatomist.  The 
blotting  out  of  her  name  from  the  register  of  exist- 
ing nationalities  has  a  thousand  times  more  than 
atoned  for  the  errors  she  may  have  committed 
while  independent. 

*'  Men  are  we,  and  must  grieve  when  even  the  shade 
Of  that  which  once  was  great  is  passed  away." 


XV.       c 

POLITICAL    AND    LITERARY   LANDMARKS- 
AUTHORITIES. 

For  the  help  of  those  who  are  students  of  Poh'sh 
history  and  literature,  the  following  short  summaries 
have  been  added  : 

1.  The  landmarks  of  Polish  history. 

2.  The  chief  events  in  the  history  of  her  intellectual 
development. 

3.  The  chief  authorities  on  Polish  history. 

THE  LANDMARKS  OF  POLISH  HISTORY. 

963.  Mieczyslaw,    the    Polish    prince,    becomes    a 

feudatory  of  the  German  Empire. 
965.  He  receives   Christianity  from   the  Bohemian 

priests. 
968.  Foundation  of  the  first  Polish  bishopric  at  Posen. 
1000.  Foundation  of  the  archbishopric  at  Gnesen. 
1024.  Boleslas  the  Great  is  crowned  king. 
1079.  Boleslas  II.  kills  St.  Stanislaus,  the  Bishop  of 

Cracow. 
1079- 1 295.  Poland    reverts   de  jure    to   its    original 

condition  as  a  duchy. 
1139.  Commencement  of  the  period  of  appanages. 

359 


360      POLITICAL   AND   LITERARY   LANDMARKS. 

1 1 80.  The    meeting  at  L^czyca,    supposed  origin  of 

the  senate. 
1226.  Conrad     of    Masovia    gives     the     district    of 

Chelmno  (Culm)  to  the  Teutonic  knights. 
1 241.  Invasion  of  the  Mongols;  Cracow  burnt  and 

battle  of  Lignica  (Liegnitz). 
1295.  Poland  again  becomes  a  kingdom. 
1 33 1.  General  meeting  of  Poles  at  Ch^ciny. 
1333-1370.  Reign  of  Casimir  the  Great. 
1340.  Casimir  unites  Galicia  with  Poland. 
1347.  Statute  of  Wislica. 
1350.  Lemberg  acquired. 
1352.  Volhynia  annexed. 
1354.  High  court  of  appeal  for  citizens  established  at 

Cracow. 
1386.  Jadwiga  marries  Jagiello  of  Lithuania,  who  is 

crowned  King  of  Poland. 
14 10.  Battle   of  Grlinwald  ;  defeat  of  the   Teutonic 

knights. 
1444.  Death  of  Ladislaus  III.  at  Varna. 
1454.   Statute  of  Nieszawa. 
1466.  Peace  of  Thorn. 
1468.  Establishment  of  the  /fosfy  and  commencement 

of  representative  government. 
1500.  Walter  von    Pletenberg  defeats  the    Russians 

under  Ivan  III. 
1506.  Laski  publishes  the  collection  of  Polish  laws 

under  the  title  :  Commune  incliti  regni  Polonice 

privilegium. 
1 5 13.  The  Poles  lose  Smolensk. 
1525.  Albert  of  Brandenburg  receives  at  Cracow  his 

investiture  as  a  feudatory  of  Poland. 


HISTORICAL   DATES.  361 

1529.  The  first  Lithuanian  Statute. 
1 561.  Livonia  united  to  the  Republic. 
1569.  Diet  of  Lublin  ;  union   of  Poland  and  Lith- 
uania. -  ^ 
1 576-1586.  Reign  of  Stephen  Batory. /^^^^^^-^^^-^^  ^  /"^ 
1592.  The  Diet  of  the  Inquisition. 
1 595.  The  Synod  of  Brzesc  ;  origin  of  the  Uniates. 
161 1.  Sigismund  III.  gets  back  Smolensk. 
1 62 1.  Poland  loses  Riga  and  Livonia  to  Sweden. 
162 1.  Chodkiewicz  defeats  the  Turks  at  Chocim. 

1634.  Treaty  with  Russia. 

1635.  Treaty  of  Stumdorf  with  Sweden. 
1644.  The  Colloquium  Charitativum  at  Thorn. 
1646.  Peace  of  Thorn  ;  Danzig  and  Thorn  go  back 

to  Poland. 
1648.  Commencement  of  the  Cossack  wars. 
165 1.  The    first    exercise   of    the    libermn   veto    by 

Sicinski. 

1654.  Khmelnitski  with   his  Cossacks  goes  over  to 
Russia. 

1655.  War  with  Sweden  ;    Gustavus   takes  Warsaw 
and  Cracow. 

1657.  Treaty  of  Welawa  ;  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg 
released  from  feudal  obligations  to  Poland. 

1657.  Battle  of  Beresteczko. 

1658.  The  Arians  banished  from  the  country. 
1660.  Treaty    of    Oliwa    with    Sweden  ;    the    king 

abandons  all  his  rights  to  that  country. 

1667.  Peace  of  Andruszowo. 

1668.  Abdication  of  John  Casimir. 
1672.  The  Turks  take  Kamieniec  Podolskl 
1674-1696.  Reign  of  John  Sobi^ski, 


36z      POLITICAL   AND   LITERARY  LANDMARKS, 

1683.   Sobieski  rescues  Vienna. 

1699.  Kamieniec  restored  to  the  Poles. 

1699.  The  Elector  of  Brandenburg  gets  Elbing  and 

other  places. 
1702.  Charles  XII.  gets  possession  of  both  Warsaw 

and  Cracow. 
1705-1709.  Brief  reign  of  Stanislaus  Leszczynski. 
1706.  Treaty  of  Altranstadt. 
17 17.  The    Dumb    Diet   (so  called    because    it   only 

lasted  seven  hours). 
1720.  Synod  at  Zarnosc  ;  ratification  of  the  Union  of 

the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches. 
1758.  Dispute  with  Russia  about  Courland. 
1766.  Meeting  of  the  Dissidents,  who  are  supported 

by  Russia. 

1768.  The  Confederacy  of  Bar. 

1769.  Massacre  of  Poles  and  Jews  by  Gonta. 

1 77 1.  Attempt  on   the  life  of  the  king  by  the  Con- 
federates. 

1772.  First  partition  of  Poland. 
1774.  Expulsion  of  the  Jesuits. 

1788.  Opening  of  the  Four  Years'  Diet. 

1791.  The  new  Polish  Constitution. 

1792.  The  Confederacy  of  Targowica. 

1793.  Second  partition  of  Poland. 

1794.  Suvorov  takes  Warsaw. 

1795.  Stanislaus  Poniatowski  resigns   the   crown   at 
Grodno  ;  the  Third  Partition. 

1807.  Formation  of  the  Duchy  of  Warsaw. 

18 1 5.  Creation  of  the  kingdom  of  Poland  in  union 

with  Russia. 
1830.  Outbreak  of  the  Polish  insurrection. 


SUMMARY.  363 

1846.  The  troubles  in  Galicia. 

i860.  The  second  Poh'sh  insurrection. 

We  hope  in  the  preceding  pages  to  have  made  the 
outlines  of  Polish  history  clear  to  our  readers.  In 
her  earlier  days  her  hostility  to  Germany  begins 
She  is  at  first  more  or  less  a  dependency  of  the 
Germaii  Empire,  and  the  power  of  her  Teutonic 
neighbours  is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  numbers  of 
Germans  which  form  the  bulk  of  the  population  of  the 
towns  ;  and  by  the  folly  of  Conrad  of  Masovia  in  intro- 
ducing the  Teutonic  knights,  from  whose  small  terri- 
tory the  great  kingdom  of  Prussia  was  afterwards  to 
be  formed.  The  distinct  rivalry  between  Russia  and 
Poland  does  not  begin  till  the  reign  of  Ivan  IV. 
Stephen  Batory,  as  if  anticipating  the  relations  in 
which  the  two  countries  were  destined  to  stand  to 
each  other,  is  unceasing  in  his  designs  to  dismember 
Russia.  As  has  been  already  pointed  out,  in  his 
negotiations  with  the  Pope,  this  is  his  real  aim, 
though  he  clothes  it  under  the  pretence  of  lending 
an  ear  to  the  Papal  proposal  of  an  expedition  to 
drive  the  Turks  out  of  Europe.  Indeed  he  affected 
to  claim  the  Muscovite  territories,  as  appendages  of 
Lithuania  which  was  united  to  Poland. 

Our  sketch  of  the  history  has  told  of  the  adven- 
tures of  the  False  Demetrius,  and  how  Ladislaus,  the 
son  of  Sigismund  III.,  was  crowned  Tsar  of  Moscow. 
But  the  tide  soon  turns,  the  Poles  resign  their  claim  ; 
they  lose  Kiev  and  some  of  their  eastern  provinces, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  even 
suffer  a  temporary  diminution  of  their  territory  at  the 


364      POLITICAL   AND   LITERARY  LANDMARKS. 

hands  of  the  Turks.  We  see  on  several  occasions 
the  Russian  Tsars  putting  themselves  forward  as  can- 
didates for  the  throne.  There  was  always  an  indistinct 
border  line  between  the  two  countries,  as  Poland 
owned  a  large  population  of  White  and  Malo-Russians, 
each  speaking  a  language  closely  akin  to  the  Russian, 
and  like  her  belonging  to  the  Eastern  branch  of  the 
Slavonic  family  and  adherents  of  the  Greek  Church. 
Thus  much  of  the  Jesuit  propaganda  was  not  merely 
religious  but  political  ;  they  succeeded  in  considerable 
parts  of  White  Russia,  which  had  belonged  to  the 
former  principality  of  Lithuania,  but  were  beaten 
back  from  the  Malo-Russians. 

Austria  did  not  encroach  upon  the  Polish  territory 
in  the  independent  days  of  the  Rzeczpospolita  ;  she 
contented  herself  with  getting  as  many  archduchesses 
as  she  could  married  to  Polish  kings.  These  unions 
with  Habsburg  princesses  begin  early.  Some,  indeed, 
of  the  earliest  Polish  sovereigns,  as  we  have  seen,  married 
the  daughters  of  Russian  granddukes,  just  as  the  early 
kings  of  Hungary  did,  as  Professor  Grot  has  shown 
in  his  interesting  work,  "  The  History  of  Hungary 
and  the  Slavonic  Lands  in  the  Twelfth  Century." 
Austrian  archduchesses  were  the  wives  of  Casimir  IV., 
Sigismund  II.  (2),  Sigismund  HI.  (2),  Ladislaus  IV., 
Michael  Korybut,  and  Augustus  HI. 

From  the  Grand -Master  of  the  Teutonic  order,  who 
had  united  with  his  dominions  those  of  the  Sword- 
bearers  in  1237,  had  been  evolved  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  who  got  released  from  the  homage  he 
once  owed  for  part  of  his  dominions  to  the  Polish 
crown,    and    became   one    of    the    most    formid^blQ 


LITERARY  DATES.  365 

enemies  of  the  country.  Since  the  Prussian  creed 
became  Lutheranism  in  the  sixteenth  century,  many 
of  the  northern  cities  of  Poland  with  their  large 
German  populations  began  to  look  to  him.  We  know 
that  Albert,  the  Grand -Master  of  the  knights,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  hoped  to  succeed 
to  the  Polish  throne.  The  distracted  reigns  of  the 
two  Saxon  kings,  followed  by  the  feeble  sway  of 
Stanislaus  Poniatowski,  completed  the  ruin  of  the 
unhappy  country.  The  dismemberment  took  place, 
and  Poland,  as  an  independent  country,  was  blotted 
out  of  the  map  of  Europe. 


II. 


TIfE  CHIEF  DATES  CONNECTED    WITH  POLISH 
LITER  A  TURE. 

1 1 13.  Death    of     Martin    Gallus,    the    first     Polish 

chronicler. 
1224.  Death  of  Vincent  Kadlubek. 
1364.  Casimir  the  Great  lays  the  foundation  of  the 

University  of  Cracow. 
1408.  Oldest  existing  copy  of  the  Piesn  Boga  Rodzica. 
141 5-1480.  Life  and  works  of  Jan  Dlugosz  (Longinus). 
1473-1543.  Life  and  labours  of  Copernicus. 
1474.  Printing  press  set  up  at  Cracow. 
1 521.  First  book  printed  in  the  Polish  language. 
1 548-1606.  The  golden  age  of  Polish  literature. 
1 55 1.  Jan  Seklucyan  translates  the  New  Testament, 

which  is  published  at  Konigsberg. 
1563.  The  Protestant  Bible  printed  at  Brzesd. 


366  AUTHORITIES   FOR   POLISH   HISTORY, 

1569.  Death  of  Nicholas  Rej,  the  first    Polish   poet 

who  used  the  vernacular. 
1495-1575.   Martin    Bielski,  author   of  the   Kronika 

Polska,  and  father  of  Polish  prose. 
1 530-1 584   Life  and  works  of  Jan  Kochanowski. 
1 606-1764.  The  Macaronic  or  Jesuitic  Period. 
1 536-1612.  Life    and   works   of    Peter    Skarga,   the 

Jesuit  preacher. 
1623-1693.  Waclaw  Potocki,  the  author  of  the  Wojna 

Chocimska. 
1620-1700.^  Andrew  Morsztyn,  who  introduced  into 

Poland  the  imitation  of  French  literature. 
1700-1822.   Period  of  French  imitation. 
1705.  Foundation  of  a  national  theatre  at  Warsaw. 
1735-1  Soi-   Life  and  works  of  Krasicki. 
1822.   Rise  of  the  Romantic  School. 
1798-185 5.   Life  and  labours  of  Mickiewicz. 
1786-1861.  Life  and  labours  of  Lelewel. 
1793-1^76.  Alexander  Fredro  ;  foundation  of  national 

Polish  comedy. 
18 18-1868.  Life  and  labours  of  Karl  Szajnocha  ;  the 

new  school  of  Polish  history. 
1852.   Rise   of  the    latest   school    of    Polish    poetry, 

represented     by    Lenartowicz,    Ujejski,      and 

Asnyk. 

in. 

AUTHORITIES  FOR  POLISH  HISTORY,   &>€, 

The  most  complete  history  of  Poland  is  that  now 
in  course  of  publication  by  Ropell  and  Caro  in  the 
German    language.     The    first    volume    (by    Ropell) 


BOBRZYNSKI.  367 

appeared  as  long  ago  as  1840;  the  work  has  been 
continued  by  Caro,  and  in  the  last  volume  which 
was  published  in  1888  has  reached  the  year  1506, 
the,  date  of  the  death  of  King  Alexander.  It  is  a 
most  learned  and  able  work,  and  has  superseded,  to 
a  certain  extent,  the  earlier  production  of  Lelewel, 
which  appeared  first  in  French  and  was  afterwards 
translated  into  Polish,  Appended  to  the  work  of 
Lelewel  is  a  useful  atlas,  containing  a  series  of 
historical  maps.  An  excellent  book  is  the  Russ- 
land,  Polen  und  Livland  bis  ins  17  Jahr/mndert,  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Schiemann  of  Revel  (1886),  which 
appeared  in  Oncken's  Allgemeine  GeschicJite.  It 
is  illustrated  with  good  maps  and  engravings,  and 
has  with  the  two  previous  works  been  constantly 
used  in  the  preparation  of  the  present  volume.  The 
work  entitled  Pologne^  by  M.  Charles  Forster,  pub- 
lished at  Paris  in  1840,  although  now  out  of  date, 
contains  some  useful  information. 

A  very  bright  and  picturesque  book  is  the  Dzieje 
Polskiw  Zarysie  ("  Sketch  of  the  History  of  Poland  "), 
by  Michael  Bobrzynski,  formerly  a  professor  at  Cracow. 
To  these  ,works,  dealing  with  the  whole  history  of  the 
country,  must  be  added  the  capital  Skice  His- 
toryczne  ("  Historical  Sketches  "),  of  Karl  Szajnocha, 
in  4  volumes,  full  off  valuable  matter,  and  as  enter- 
taining as  a  novel.  For  Lithuanian  history  we  have 
the  work  of  P.  Briantsev  (in  Russian),  Wilno,  1889, 
and  the  suggestive  Zamietki  po  Istorii  Litovsko — 
Russkago  Gosudarstva  ("  Remarks  on  the  History  of 
the  Lithuanian-Russian  Principality "),  by  N.  Dash- 
kevich  (also  in  Russian). 


368  AUTHORITIES   FOR   POLISH   HISTORY. 

For  the  early  periods  of  Polish  history  the  Latin 
chroniclers  are  our  authorities,  just  as  the  English 
Latin  chroniclers  are  to  the  English  student.  We 
have  already  spoken  of  them  in  our  brief  literary 
sketch.  They  will  be  found  reprinted  in  the  invalu- 
able Monumenta  Poloftice  Historica,  in  4  volumes, 
begun  by  Bielowski,  and  continued  by  others  after 
his  death.  The  chief  are  Gallus,  Kadlubek,  Boguch- 
wal,  Dlugosz,  and  Kromer.  In  what  relation  Dlugosz 
stands  to  the  old  Russian  chroniclers  is  shown  by 
Professor  Bestuzhev-Riumin  in  his  work  O  Sostave 
Russkikh  Lietopisei  do  Kontsa  XIV  vieka  ("  On  the 
Compilation  of  the  Russian  Chronicles  till  the  end 
of  the  Fourteenth  Century  ").  There  is  also  Bielovv- 
ski's  work,  Wst^p  Krytyczny  do  Dziejow  Polskich 
("  Critical  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Poland"). 
A  complete  edition  of  Dlugosz  appeared  at  Leipzig 
in  17 1 2  in  2  volumes.  We  have  already,  in  the 
course  of  our  literary  sketch,  dwelt  upon  the  charac- 
teristics of  these  writers.  A  valuable  work  as  con- 
taining reprints  of  many  of  the  old  Polish  chroniclers 
is  the  PolonicB  Historice  Corpus,  Basle,  1592.  For 
the  reign  of  Ladislaus  and  the  battle  of  Varna 
we  have  the  "Memoirs  of  the  Janissary."  The  valuable 
works  of  Narbutt  have  already  been  fully  described. 
The  reigns  of  the  two  Sigismunds  and  Batory  are 
told  by  Sarnicki.  Reference  may  also  be  made  to 
the  Panoivanie  Henryka  Walezyusza  i  Stefana  Bato- 
rego  ("  Reign  of  Henry  of  Valois  and  Stephen 
Batory  "),  by  Albertrandi.  Father  Pierling  has  pub- 
lished a  valuable  work  on  the  relations  of  Stephen 
with   the    Pope,  entitled    Papes  et    Tsars ;   and    we 


V.   KRASINSKr,  369 

must  also  refer  to  the  same  writer's  account  of  the 
False  Demetrius,  an  episode  which  concerns  Polish 
and  Russian  history  alike.  For  the  history  of  Pro- 
testantism and  its  struggles  in  Poland  we  have  the 
work  of  Count  Valerian  Krasinski,  London,  1838,  a 
very  readable  book,  though  now  perhaps  a  little  out 
of  date.  And  the  two  valuable  works  in  Russian  of 
N.  Liubovich  :  Istoria  Reformatsii  v'  Polske  ("  His- 
tory of  the  Reformation  in  Poland"),  Warsaw,  1883, 
and  Nachalo  Katolicheskoi  Reaktsii  i  Upadok  Refor- 
matsii V  Polske  ("  The  Commencement  of  the  Catholic 
Reaction  and  the  Fall  of  the  Reformation  in  Poland  "). 
An  interesting  work  on  Albert  Laski  has  been  pub- 
lished by  M.  Kraushar  (2  vols.,  Warsaw,  1882). 
Among  other  accounts  we  get  some  curious  details 
of  the  Palatine's  visit  to  England.  He  appears  to 
have  been  obliged  to  leave  our  country  abruptly  on 
account  of  his  debts.  For  the  life  of  his  more  cele- 
brated uncle  Jan,  there  is  the  monograph  of  Dr.  Her- 
mann Dalton,  of  which  a  translation  into  English 
has  appeared  (John  a  Lasco,  London,  1886).  For  the 
history  of  the  Baltic  provinces  generally  I  have  found 
much  curious  information  in  an  "  Account  of  Livonia 
with  a  Relation  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Decay,  of 
the  Marian  Teutonick  Order  .  .  .  sent  in  letters  to  his 
Friend  in  London"  (London,  1701). 

A  curious  work  is  the  Historia  Belli  Sveco-Mosco- 
vitici,  published  by  J.  Widekind,  in  1672  ;  it  gives  an 
account  of  the  wars  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  century. 
For  John  Casimir  and  Michael  Wisniowiecki  we  have 
the  "  Memoirs  of  John  Chrysostom  Pasek  "  (Wilno, 
1843),  and  subsequently  reprinted.     See  also  Ojczyste 

25 


370  AUTHORITIES  FOR   POLISH  HISTORY. 

Spoininki  ("Memorials  of  the  Fatherland"),  edited 
by  A.  Grabovvski,  Cracow,  1845.  For  an  account  of 
the  Cossacks  we  must  go  to  the  interesting  work  of 
Beauplan,  Description  d' Ukraine  (Rouen,  1660).  The 
original  is  one  of  the  rarest  of  books,  but  it  has  been 
reprinted.  Among  modern  productions  we  have  the 
book  of  M.  Evarnitski,  Zaporozhye  v  ostatkakh  Starini 
i  Predaniakh  Naroda  ("  The  Zaporozhian  Cossacks  in 
the  Remains  of  Antiquity  and  the  Traditions  of  the 
People  ").  The  author  gives  us  a  glowing  and  almost 
idealised  picture  of  these  strange  soldiers.  His  book 
is  illustrated  with  plates,  showing  relics  of  the  old 
Cossack  days  still  preserved. 

The  Poland  of  Ladislaus  IV.  is  described  in  the 
Relation  dii  Voyage  de  la  reine  de  Pologne.  A  terrible 
account  of  the  slaughter  in  the  Cossack  wars  is 
furnished  by  the  Jewish  writer,  whose  book  was 
published  in  a  German  translation  under  the  title, 
Jawen  Mezula  :  Schilderiing  des  Polnischen-K osakisdi- 
en  Krieges  und  der  Leiden  der  Juden  in  Polen  wdhrend 
der  Jahre,  1648- 165  3. 

The  reign  of  Sobieski  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
work  of  Bernard  Connor,  who  was  his  physician,  and 
gives  many  fresh  details.  We  have  largely  quoted 
from  him  as  an  eye-witness.  The  relief  of  Vienna 
can  be  studied  in  the  letters  which  Sobieski  wrote 
to  his  wife  :  Lis  ty  J  ana  IIL.  krola  polskiego,  pisane  do 
krolowej  Kazimierzy^  See.  There  is  also  the  German 
account  previously  referred  to,  which  has  been 
translated  into  English.  A  curious  book  on  Poland 
is  that  of  Hauteville,  of  which  an  English  trans- 
lation appeared  (London,   1698).     He  may  be  read 


COXE.  371 

together  with  Connor,  and  puts  the  seventeenth- 
century  Poland  vigorously  before  us.  In  the  course 
of  the  narrative  some  extracts  have  been  given  from 
the  travels  of  old  Peter  Mundy,  still  preserved  in 
manuscript  in  the  Bodleian,  to  which  our  attention 
was  kindly  called  by  Mr.  Madan,  one  of  the  sub- 
librarians. But  only  a  small  part  of  Mundy's 
manuscript  relates  to  Poland.  For  the  history  of 
the  Teutonic  knights  and  the  countries  bordering  on 
Poland,  we  have,  Hartknoch  Alt-und  Neues  Preussen^ 
1684,  an  exceedingly  curious  book.  For  the  reign 
of  Augustus  II.  we  have  the  Abbe  Parthenay,  and 
for  the  condition  of  Poland,  just  before  the  dismem- 
berment, the  letters  of  Lind  should  be  read. 

Coxe's  travels  are  invaluable  for  the  accurate 
sketch  of  Polish  history  which  they  contain,  and  the 
full  account  of  the  country.  He  was  personally 
acquainted  with  Stanislaus  Poniatowski.  For  the 
period  of  the  last  dismemberment  the  "  Memoirs  of 
Kilinksi,"  the  Warsaw  shoemaker,  are  important.  To 
these  must  be  added  those  of  Oginski  and  Rulhi^re. 
A  minute  account  of  the  battle  of  Macieiowice,  and 
the  imprisonment  and  subsequent  release  of  Koscius- 
zko  will  be  found  in  the  "  Notes  of  my  Captivity  in 
Russia,"  by  the  poet  Niemcewicz,  of  which  a  trans- 
lation appeared  in  English  (Edinburgh,  1847). 

It  is  impossible  in  a  work  of  this  kind  to  give  a 
complete  list  of  the  memoirs  and  historical  writings 
illustrating  the  Polish  struggles  during  the  present 
century,  but  those  of  Mochnacki  may  be  mentioned 
for  the  insurrection  of  1830,  although  they  do  not 
appear   to   be    in    all    cases    reliable,    and    for    the 


372  AUTHORITIES  FOR   POLISH  HISTORY, 

insurrection  of  i860,  the  narratives  of  Mr.  Day  and 
Mr.  Sutherland  Edwards.  The  interesting  account 
of  the  latter  published  by  Berg,  in  the  pages  of 
Russkaya  Starina  ("  The  Russian  Antiquary "),  has 
not  been  reprinted.  The  memoirs  of  Prince  Adam 
Czartoryski  have  been  edited  by  Mr.  Gielgud 
(London,  1888),  and  on  the  history  of  the  Czartoryskis 
the  work,  Pulawy,  published  at  Lemberg  in  1887 
should  be  consulted. 

A  useful  compendium  of  Polish  law  is  the  Jtis 
Publicum  Regni  Poloni,  published  by  G.  Lengnich 
at  Danzig,  in  1742.  To  this  must  be  added  Helcel, 
Starodaivne  praiva  polskiego  pomnike  ("  Memorials  of 
old  Polish  Law"),  185 7- 1870,  Cracow,  and  the  many 
important  works  of  Romuald  Hube,  who  died  in 
1890.  Helcel  also  edited  the  old  Polish  law-book  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  now  preserved  at  Elbing  ; 
there  is  also  a  Russian  translation,  and  notes  by  M. 
Vinaber  (Warsaw,  1888). 

For  Polish  Hterature  we  may  recommend, 
Pypin  and  Spasovich,  Istoriya  Slavyanskikh  Litera- 
tur  ("  History  of  Slavonic  Literatures  "),  published 
in  1 88 1  at  St.  Petersburg;  there  is  a  German  trans- 
lation. In  this  work  the  account  of  Polish  literature  is 
done  very  fully.  Valuable  also  is  the  Geschichte  der 
Pohiischen  Literatur,  by  Heinrich  Nitschmann,  who 
has  also  published  a  selection  from  the  Polish  poets 
translated  into  German.  Dr.  Cybulski  has  written  on 
the  Polish  poets  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

In  English  there  is  the  useful  little  work  of  Mrs. 
Robinson,  published    at    New  York  in   1850  ;    now, 


MICKIEWICZ.  373 

unfortunately,  somewhat  out  of  date.  Polish  poetry 
has  not  often  been  translated  into  English,  and 
seldom  successfully.  The  courage  of  Some  of  our 
enthusiasts  seems  to  have  paled  before  the  imaginary 
difficulties  of  the  language.  Campbell  called  Praga, 
the  suburb  of  Warsaw,  Prague :  did  not  know  that 
the  accent  in  the  name  Niemcewicz  was  on  the  pen- 
ultimate, and  thought  that  Kosciuszko  was  a  wore'  of 
four  syllables/  Bowring's  versions  which  appeared 
many  years  ago  are  insipid.  The  translations  in  Paul 
Soboleski's  "  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Poland,"  Chicago, 
1 88 1,  are  partly  taken  from  Bowring  ;  they  are  often 
absolutely  ungrammatical.  Miss  M.  Biggs  has  pub- 
lished some  good  translations,  which  may  be  relied 
upon  as  strictly  faithful  versions.  She  has  as  yet 
given  to  the  public  the  Konrad  Wallenrod  and  Pan 
Tadeiisz  of  Mickiewicz.  Materials  for  the  scientific 
study  of  the  Polish  language  are  not  wanting ;  we 
have  the  excellent  grammar  of  Prof.  Malecki,  and 
the  works  published  by  Prof.  Nehring,  of  Breslau. 
The  Prace  Filologiczne^  which  appears  occasionally  at 
Warsaw,  contains  excellent  articles  on  Polish  philo- 
logy. The  great  dictionary  of  Linde,  of  which  a 
second  edition  appeared  in  1 854-1 860  afLemberg,  is 
a  work  of  stupendous  labour,  but  some  of  the  articles 
are  now  out  of  date,  though  the  great  progress  of 
comparative  philology. 

For  Malo-Russian  literature,  which  is  fairly  active 
in  Galicia,  there  is  an  excellent  Chrestomathy  by 
Barvinski  (Lemberg,  1870).  Valuable  works  are  the 
Ruthenische  Studien  of  Ogonovski,  and  the  collections 
of  folk  tales  by  Rudchenko,  Kulish,  and  Dragomanov. 


374  AUTHORITIES   FOR   POLISH  HISTORY. 

No  part  of  Europe  is  richer  in  popular  legends  and 
superstitions  than  the  Ukraine.  The  works  published 
up  to  the  present  time  convey  but  an  inadequate  idea 
of  its  wealth.  It  was  from  the  stories  of  old  in- 
habitants that  Shevchenko  took  the  plots  of  many  of 
his  most  realistic  poems.  The  country  is  full  of  tales 
of  hetmans  and  their  achievements ;  the  exploits  of  the 
redoubtable  Bogdan  Khmelnitski,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, fissure  very  prominently.  To  this  day  the 
common  people  believe  that  the  ghost  of  the  terrible 
Jeremy  Wisniowiecki,  the  hero  of  some  sanguinary 
engagements,  haunts  the  country.  The  peasant  who 
meets  him  quails  before  his  spectral  gaze.  Little 
has  been  done  as  yet  to  make  these  curious  stories 
familiar  to  Western  readers  ;  exception,  perhaps, 
must  be  made  in  the  cases  of  Prof.  Bodenstedt ;  also 
the  writer  of  an  article  a  short  time  ago  in  the  Revue 
des  deux  Mondes^  in  which  Turgueniev  assisted,  and 
Obrist,  author  of  a  small  work  on  Shevchenko.  The 
songs  are  full  of  superstitions  about  magic  herbs, 
birds,  and  other  accessories  of  legends.  We  here 
find  what  we  have  nowhere  else  met  with,  stories 
of  magic  handkerchiefs,  such  as  that  which  the 
"  Egyptian  "  gave  to  the  mother  of  Othello. 

A  good  Malo-Russian  dictionary  (long  a  desider- 
atum) has  been  published  by  Zelechovski.  Up  to  its 
appearance  the  students  of  this  interesting  language 
were  obliged  to  content  themselves  with  some  meagre 
vocabularies.  The  best  grammar  is  that  of  Osadtsa, 
published  at  Lemberg,  a  great  centre  of  the  language; 
the  Staropegian  Institute  being  particularly  active  in 
the  publication  of  Malo-Russian  books.    Fedkovich  has 


WHITE   RUSSIAN.  3/5 

already  been  mentioned.  The  poet  Shevchenko,  as 
having  been  born  a  Russian  subject,  has  been  treated 
of  in  the  work  on  Russia,  published  in  this  series.  The 
White  Russian  dialect  possesses  no  literature  except 
a  few  songs.  The  proverbs,  however,  have  been 
collected,  and  all  Slavonic  proverbs  are  interesting. 
In  1844  was  published  at  Wilno  a  book  entitled, 
Piosnki  Wiesniacze  z  nad  Niemna  i  Dzwiny,  iv  Mowie 
Slawiano- K rewickiej  ("  Songs  from  the  Banks  of  the 
Niemen  and  Dwina,  in  the  Slavo-Krevichian  Dialect"). 
This  Slavo-Krevichian  dialect  is  none  other  than 
White  Russian.  Of  the  White  Russian  songs  a  large 
collection  was  published  by  Shein  (St.  Petersburg, 
1874).  The  Polish  natiot»al  songs  have  been  collected 
by  Waclaw  z  Oleska  (1853,  the  earliest),  Woicicki, 
Zegota  Pauli,  Czeczota,  and  Oscar  Kolberg. 

No  attempt  has  beerj  made  in  the  above  h'st  to 
make  a  full  classification.  The  books  cited  have,  in 
nearly  every  case,  been  used  by  ourselves,  and  are 
familiar.  It  seemed  preferable  to  adopt  this  course, 
though  very  exhau'itive  lists  might  have  been 
prepared  by  merely  copying  the  names  of  the 
authorities  prefixed  to  the  various  sections  of 
Bobrzynski's  history,  which  form  one  of  the  most 
vah^able  features  K>f  his  useful  book. 


LIST  OF  POLISH  KINGS. 


(Chiefly  from  the  Historya  Polska  of  Balinski,  Warsaw, 
1844.) 

Micezyslaw  I.  (Mieszko)         962-992 

Boleslas  the  Brave       992-1026 

Mieczyslaw  II 1026-1034 

Interregnum      1034-1040 

Casimir  I.,  the  Restorer         ...  1040-1058 

Boleslas  II.,  the  Bold 1058-1081 

Ladislaus  I.,  Hermann           ...         1081-1102 

Boleslas  III.,  the  Wry-mouthed       1102-1139 

Ladislaus  II ...  1139-1148 

Boleslas  IV.,  the  Curly           ...  1149-1173 

Mieczyslaw  III.            1174-1177 

Casimir  II.,  the  Just 1178-1194 

Leszek  V.,  the  White,  and  Mieczyslaw  the  Elder, 

alternately 1 194-1203 

Ladislaus  III.,  Longshanks 1204-1207 

Leszek  V.,  the  White,  a  second  time          1207-1227 

Boleslas  V.,  the  Modest        ...  1227-1279 

Leszek  VI.,  the  Black 1279-1289 

Boleslas,  Prince  of  Masuria,  Henry  IV.,  Prince  of 

Breslau       1289-1291 

Ladislaus  IV.,  Prince  of  Sieradz,  Henry  IV.,  Prince 

of  Breslau 1291-1292 

Przemyslaw  I.,  Prince  of  Posen  and  Pomerania  ...  1295-1296 

Ladislaus  IV.,  the  Short,  a  second  time     1297-1299 

Wenceslaus  I.,  King  of  Bohemia     1299-1305 

Ladislaus  the  Short,  a  third  time     1306-1333 

Casimir  III.,  the  Great          1333-1370 

376 


LTST   OF   POLISH  KINGS. 


377 


Louis,  King  of  Hungary        

Jadwiga  ...         

Ladislaus  II.,  Jagiello... 

Ladislaus    111.,    surnamed    VVarnenczyk,  King 
Poland  and  Hungary 

Casimir  IV 

John  Albert       

Alexander  

Sigismund  I 

Sigismund  II.,  Augustus        

Henry  of  Valois  ...         

Stephen  Batory  

Sigismund  TIL,  Vasa 

Ladislaus  IV 

John  Casimir 

Michael  Korybut         

John  III.,  Sobieski      

Augustus  11. ,  Elector  of  Saxony      

Stanislaus  Leszczynski  

Augustus  IL,  a  second  time  ...         

Stanislaus  Leszczynski,  a  second  time 

Augustus  III.,  Elector  of  Saxony     

Stanislaus  Poniatowski  


of 


1370-1382 
1 384- 1 389 
1 386- 1 434 

1434-1444 
I 447- I 492 
1 492- 1 501 
1501-1506 
1 507- 1 548 
1 548-1 572 

1574-1575 
1 576-1 586 
1 587-1632 
I 632- I 648 
I 648- I 668 
I 669- I 67 3 
1674-1696 
1 698- 1 706 
1 706-1709 
1709-1733 
1733-1734 
1 734-1 763 
1 764-1 795 


It  will  be  observed  that  some  of  the  povereigns  in  this  list  only  ruled 
for  a  short  time  during  periods  of  anarchy.  Ladislaus  jagiello  is  called 
by  Polish  historians  the  second  of  the  name,  perhaps  on  account  of  the 
new  family  which  then  ascended  the  throne. 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE   JAGIELLOS. 

Gedymin,  Prince  of  Lithuania,  f  1341. 


Olgerd, 

t  im- 


Louis,  King  of  Poland 
(1370-1382) 


Ladislaus  Jagiello  (1348-1434)  =  Jadwiga,  heiress  of  Poland. 


Ladislaus  III.  (1423-1444).      Casimir  IV.  (1427-1492). 


John  Albert, 
t  1501- 


Alexander. 
ti5o6. 


SiGISMUND  I. 
(1467-I548). 


SiGISMUND  II., 
t  1572. 


Catherine  = 
John  Vasa  of  Sweden. 


SiGISMUND  III.  (1566-1632). 


Anne  = 
Stephen  Batory. 


Ladislaus  IV.  (1595-1648).  John  Casimir  (1609- 1672). 

378 


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INDEX. 


Abdul  Medjid,  262 

Adelbert,  St.,  26,  27,  270 

Adelaide  of  Hesse,  45 

Akerman,  i 

Albert  of  Brandenburg,  73,  87 

Albertrandi,  316 

Aleppo,  262 

Alexander,  of  Poland,  58,  63-66, 

143,  278 
Alexander  VI.,  Pope,  64 
Alexander    L,     of    Russia,    214, 

244,  253,  255,  257,  259 
Alexander  II.,  of  Russia,  264 
Alexis,  of  Russia,  141 
Altenstein,  274 
Altmeyer,  320 
Altranstadt,  197,  199 
America,  228,  243,  244,  297 
Ancillon,  261 

Andelot,  Chevalier  de,  205 
Andruszowo,  8,  10,  146 
Angern,  160 
Anna  Aldona,  45,  49 
Anna  Jagiellonka,    6,    lOI,    103, 

no 
Anne,  of  Austria,  136 
Anne,  of  England,  177 
Anne,  of  Russia,  201 
Armenians,  16 
Asn\  k,  326 
Augsburg,  45 
Augustus  II.,  193-204 
Augustus  III.,  206-211 
Austria,  253,  254,  255,  261 
Aviano,  169 


B 


Bar  (Podolia),  215 

Barbes,  305 

Batory,  Stephen,   I,  9,   50,   103- 

117,  140,  141,  285 
Baudoin,  97 

Baudoin  de  Courtenay,  271 
Bavaria,  Elector  of,  168 
Belgrad,  163 
Bern,  261,  262 
Bender,  199 
Beniowski,  22,  222,  314 
Beresteczko,  143 
Berg,  267 
Berlin,  261 
Berry,  205 
Bethlen  Gabor,  113 
Bezprim,  33 
Biecz,  278 
Bielski,  268,  287 
Biren,  201,  202 
Bissy,  205 
Blon,  249 

Bobrzynski,  2,  322.  357 
Boguchwal,  260,  270 
Boleslas    I.,    the    Brave,    26-28, 

269 
Boleslas  II.,  the  Bold,  33 
Boleslas  III.,   the  Wry-mouthed, 

34 
Boleslas  V.,  the  Pious,  18,  36 
Bolko,  45 
Bologna,  274,  278 
Bonneval,  310 
Bonneville,  244 
Boufflers,  208 


381 


382 


INDEX. 


Brandenburg,  Elector,  the  Great, 

19  > 
Branilen1)urg,  Margrave  of,  46 
Branicki,  224,  238 
Brest-litovsk  (Brzesc),  9,  123,  124, 

224 
Britain,  Great,  243 
Brocmann,  17 
Brodzinski,  13,  296 
Brougham,  261 
Briickner,  Prof.,  of   Berlin,  270, 

272,  292 
Briihl,  211 
Brussels,  317,  320 
Buchanan,  276 
Buczacz,  151 
Bug,  249,  255,  259 
Bukovina,  14 
Bulanes,  22 
Bulgarians,  309 
Buonacorsi,  61 
Burke,  229 
Burns,  277 
Buturlin,  143 
Buxhovden,  246 
Byczyna,  119 

Bydgoszcz  (Bromberg),  254 
Byron,  314 
Bzowski,  284 


Calvin,  88 

Campbell,  260 

Carlowitz,  192 

Caro,  44,  272,  320 

Carpathians,  ii 

Casimir  I.,  32,  268 

Casimir   III.,  5,    18,    37,    40-47, 

336,  339 
Casimir  IV.,  14,  55-58,  68 
Castiglione,  287 
Catherine  Jagiellonka,  118 
Catherine   II.,    of    Russia,    212, 

222,  238,  249,  250 
Cecilia  Renata,  of  Austria,  132 
Cenova,  13 
Chambord,  201 
Charles  II.,  England,  206 
Charles   IX.,   of  France,  92,  94, 

lOI 


Charles  of  Lorraine,  155,  162, 
168 

Charles  Stuart,  the  Young  Pre- 
tender, 178,  179,  206 

Charles  Gustavus,  of  Sweden,  145, 
290 

Charles  XII.,  of  Sweden,  195- 
199,  209 

Chaucer,  53 

Chekhs,  336 

Chelm,  124 

Chernigov,  8 

Chicherin,  42 

Chlapowski,  134 

Chocim,  128,  154,  166,  199,  292 

Chodkiewicz,  15,  128 

Chopin,  267 

Churchill,  292 

Claudius,  Roman  Emperor,  153 

Clement,  Master,  67-68 

Clement  VIII.,  Pope,  125 

Clement  X.,  Pope,  177 

Cluny,  33 

Coccei,  220 

Commendone,  117 

Conde,  152 

Connor,  144,  149,   190,  346,  347, 

352-354 
Conrad,   Duke  of    Masovia,    35, 

90 
Constance,  54 
Constantine,    Grand    Duke    (the 

elder),  257-259 
Constantine,    Grand    Duke    (the 

younger),  264,  267 
Constantinople,    139,    262,    307, 

3" 

Copernicus,  77,  273-275 

Corneille,  291 

Corvinus,  M.,  56 

Cosmas,  25 

Cossacks,  14,  128,  139,  207 

Courland,  15,  201,  343,  344 

Coxe,  212,  223,  291,  315,  340 

Cracow,  3,  23,  38-40,  45,  52,  79, 
100,  132,  145,  151,  162,  171, 
195,  215,  223,  249,  254,  255, 
263,  271,  312 

Cracus,  20 

Cranmer,  131 

Cromwell,  181 


INDEX. 


383 


Cujavia,  46 
Culloden,  206 
Cyprus,  King  of,  336 
Czarnkow,  John  of,  43,  45,  27 1 
C/artoryski,  Augustus,  214 
Czartoryski,  Adarxl  (the  elder),  214 
Czartoryski,  Adam  (the  younger), 

214,   250,   255,   257-259,  260- 

263,  268 
Czartoryski,  Ladislaus,  6,  268 
Czestochowa,  216,  272 
Czersk,  90 


Dabrowka,  26 

D^browski,  249 

Danzig,  ii,  55,  74,  I2I,  198,  204, 

206,  222,  223 
Dashkevich,  Prof.,  16 
Dee,  107 
Demrtrius,  the  False,  16, 126, 127, 

251 
Denmark,  336 
Desportes,  100,  138 
Deiilino,  76,  128 
Deux  Fonts,  200    , 
Diebitsch,  258,  259 
Dissidents,  144 
Dlugosz,  20,  273 
Dnieper,  23,  244 
Dobrogniewa,  32 
Domingo,  St.,  253 
Dorpat,  115 

Drayomanov,  Prof.,  139 
Dresden,  211,  243 
Druzbacka,  292 
Dubienka,  243 
Dubois,  320 
Dwina,  244 
Dzialinski,  129 


Edward  VI.  of  England,  131 
Elblag  (Elbing),  ii,  74,  123,  195 
Eleonora  of  Austria,  153 
Elizabeth,  d.  of  Empe  or  Albert, 

58 
Elizabeth,  d.  of  Emperor  Ferdi- 
nand I.,  82 


Elizabeth  of  England,   109,    129, 

131 
Elizabeth,  d.  of  Elector  Palatine, 

132 
Enghien,  Duke  of,  147 
Eric  XIV.,  of  Sweden,  118 
Ernest  of  Austria,  92,  103 
Esther,  44 


Fedkovich  (Godinski),  14 
Feodore  Ivanovich,  118 
Ferdinand  III.,  132 
Filicaja,  171 
Fleming,  Isabella,  214 
Florence,  123 
Foix,  Paul  de,  93 
Fontainebleau,  244 
Formosa,  222 
France,  243,  244 
Frederick  of  Austria,  18 
Frederick    the   Great,    212,  222, 

237,  292 
Frederick  William  II.,  237 
P'reeman,  255 


Galicia\  41,  125,  223,  255,  263 

Gallus,  20,  28,  268,  270 

Gaszynski,  288,  323,  324 

Gawinski,  277 

Gedymin,  8,  15,  38,  45,  49,  124 

Geneva,  323 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  21 

George  I.,  of  England,  177 

Germans,  16 

Geron,  25 

Gielgud,  215 

Glinski,  Michael,  66 

Glinski,  76 

Gniezno  (Gnesen),  23,  29,  37,  122 

Godunov,  Boris,  126 

GoUinsz,  147 

Golovacki,  14 

Gonta,  14,  215 

Gordon,  145,  r46 

(Joszczynski,  312,  314 

Gijttingen,  293 

Grabowski,  246 


384 


INDEX. 


Grange,  Henri  de  la,  163 

(jranovski,  305 

Gratz,  122 

Gregory  VII.,  Pope,  33 

Grochow,  259,  263 

Grodno,   15,  116,   223,  239,  249, 

274 
Griinwald,  52 
Guebriant,  Mme.  de,  137 
Gundulic,  128 
Guzow,  126 
Guzules,  14 
Gwagnin,  286 


H 


Hajek,  279 

Halicz,  7 

Hanusz,  17 

Hartknoch,  3 

Hartlib,  131 

Ilauteville,  329,  342 

Hearne,  208 

Heilsberg,  195 

Helen  Palaeologa,  63,  64 

Helena,  St.,  257 

Henry  of  Kolingbroke,  VI.,  52 

Henry  VIII.,  of  England,  70 

Henri  I.,  of  France,  32 

Henri  de  Valois,  III.,  3,  92,  126 

Henri  II.,  of  Germany,  28 

Henri  III.,  of  Germany,  33 

Henry,  Prince  of  Prussia,  222 

Hermani,  266 

Herberstein,  51 

Herri ck,  277 

Herzen,  257,  303,  304 

Hesler,  246 

Heywood,  276 

Holland,  131 

Hollinshed,  279 

Horsey,  84-86,  I07-IIO 

Hosius,  279 

Hugo,  Victor,  314 

Hungary,  336 


Ibrahim,  156 

Inflancka,  or   Inflanty  (Livonia), 
88,  229,  10,  344 


Isidore,  123 

Iskinder  Pasha,  309 

Ivan  III.,  56,  63,  90,  118,  119 

Ivan  IV.,  the  Terrible,  92,  105, 

124,  126 
Ivan  v.,  II 


J 


Jablonowski,  155 

Jadwiga,  15,  41,  47,  49 

Jadzwings,  8 

Jagiello,  Ignaz,  149 

James  Stuart,  the  Old  Pretender, 

177 
Janocki,  272 
Janusz  of  Masovia,  58 
Jena,  254 
Jews,  18,  19,  44 
Jezierski,  296 
Jirecek,  55 
John  Albert,  58-63 
John  Casimir,  50,  113,  141-151 
John  of  Bohemia,  45 
John  of  Sweden,  92,  118 
Jordanes,  23 
Julius  II.,  Pope,  64 
JuUus  III.,  Pope,  282 


K 


Kadlubek,  20,  21,  269,  271 

Kalinka,  225,  322 

Kalisch,  254 

Kallenbach,  77,  81,  147 

Kamchatka,  221 

Kamienicki,  Bp.,  215 

Kamieniec,  Podolski,  151,  194 

Kaniov,  248 

Karski,  14 

Kashubes,  12,  13 

Kavanagh,  161 

Kelly,  107 

Kettler,  201,  202 

Khilov,  221 

Khmelnitski   Bogdan,    139,    140, 

141-143,  277 
Kiev,  8,  32,  49,  53,  54,  124,  146 
Kilinski,  293 
Kleck,  66 
Kionowicz,  284 


INDEX. 


385 


Klushino,  127 

Kochanowski,  97,  102,  276,  296, 

307 
Kochowski,  289 
Kollataj,  224,  294-296 
Kolszicki,  158  161 
Konarski,  Bp.  of  Posen,  95,  96 
Koncewicz,  129 
Kondratowicz,  324 
Konigstein,  198 
Konopnicka,  M.,  326 
Korsak,  246 
Kosciuszko,  239-244 
Kosinski,  216,  218,  2 1 9-22 1 
Kotzebue,  221 
Kovno,  15 

Krasicki,  128,  279,  292-315 
Krasinski,  Adam,  215 
Krasinski,  Michael,  215 
Krasinski,  Sigismund,  314 
Kraszewski,  322,  323 
Kraushar,  119 
Krems,  162 
Kreutzwald,  17,  18 
Krok,  23 
Kromer,  7,  20,  55,  II9,  278,  279, 

351 

Krupinski,  246 
Kruszwica,  23 
Krynski,  273 
Krzeminiec,  314 
Kuczynski,  310 
Kurisches,  Haf,  ii,  15 
Kwasznewski,  246 


Laboureur,  Le,  4,  137,  138 
Lacroix,  200 
Ladislaus  II.,  33 
Ladislaus,  Loketiek,  5,  38 
Ladislaus,  Jagiello,  15,41,  47-53, 

124 
Ladislaus  III.   (Warnenczyk),  54, 

Ladislaus  IV.,  50,  106,  127,  132- 

140 
Lambert,  264 
Langiewicz,  266 
Laski,  Albert,  117 
Laski,  Jan,  131 


Laterna,  115 

Laud,  285 

Lausanne,  303 

L?czyca,  34 

Leipzig,  243,  293,  318 

Lelewel,  316-320 

Lenartowicz,  324 

Lengnich,  128,  345 

Leopold,    of    Austria,    156,     171, 

177 
Lescus,  21 

Leszczynska,  Catherine,  197,  210 
Leszczynska,  Maria,  197,  208 
Leszczynski,  Stanislaus,   195-201, 

204-210,  229 
Leszczynski,  Wenceslaus,  133 
Leszek,  the  Black,  16,  37 
Letts,  14 

Liebenberg,  von,  157 
Lignica  (Liegnitz),  36 
Lind,  143 
Linz,  271 
Lithuania,  8,   14,  15,  44,  47,  76, 

259,  266 
Liverpool,  Lord,  255 
Livonia,  see  Inflancka 
Lomza,  254 
Lorraine,  207 
Louis  XIV.,  136,  150, 
Louis  XV.,  197,  204 
Louis  of  Hungary,  44,  47 
Lublin,  15,  49,  90,  254 
Lublinist,  179 
Lubomirski,  147 
Lubomirski  (Jerome),  168 
Lubomirski,  203 
Luck,  124 
Lucknow,  161 
Liiders,  264 
Lukawski,  216,  220 
Luneville,  208,  253 
Luther,  88,  280 
Lwow  (Lcmberg),  7,  74,  124,  145, 

154,  166,  197,  198,  277 
Lysa  Gora,  29 
Lyszczynski,  Casimir,  202 


M 


[52,  163 


26 


Macao,  222 
Macieiowice,  241,  244 


386 


INDEX, 


Mackiewicz,  222 

Madagascar,  222 

Madalinski,  249 

Madrid,  254 

Magdeburg,  323 

Malachowski,  238 

Malborg  (Marienburg),  3,  129 

Malczewski,  312-314 

M  ilecki,  272 

Malo-Kussians,  12-14,  ^39 

Margeret,  126 

Maria  Josefa  of  Austria,  210 

Marie  Casimire,  162, 163,  172, 176, 

182-184 
Marie  Louise,  113,  133-137,  163, 

183 
Mariemont,  219 
Martinus  Polonus,  271 
Masovia,  76 
Matejko,  223 
Maurice  of  Saxony,  202 
Maximilian  II.,  103 
Maximilian,  Archduke  of  Austria, 

118 
Mayen,  246 
Mazeppa,  198,  199 
Mecherzynsici,  285 
Mechlin,  Archbishop  of,  254 
Melanchthon,  280 
Merecz,  140 

Mereczon  Szczyzna,  242 
Merode,  150 
Merseburg,  28 
Meudon,  201 

Michael  Konstantinovich,  55 
Michael  Korybut,  1 51-154,  195 
Mickiewicz,  3,  138,  242,  262,  288, 

298-312,  315,  316 
Mieczyslaw  I.,  20 
Mieczyslaw  II.,  3 1 
Mignot,  Marie,  151 
Milan,  72 
Milton,  131 
Mindovg,  15,  47 
Mirkovich,  12 

Mniszek,  Marina,  6,  1 14,  127,  251 
Mniszek,  George,  7,  114 
Moldavia,  56 
Moliere,  315,  316 
Mollendorf,  239 
MoUer,  115 


I    Mongols,  44 
Montesquieu,  208 
Montfermeil,  268 
Montluc,  92 
Montmorency,  312 
Morea,  171 
Morsztyn,  144,  291 
Mundy,  Peter,  137,  240 
Muraviev,  267 
Murray,  177 
Mustapha,  Kara,  158,  163,  166 


N 


Naganowski,  329 

Nancy,  208 

Napoleon  I.,  253,  254,  257,  293, 

301,  309 
Napoleon  III.,  262,  305,  307 
Narbutt,  T.,  320,  321 
Narbutt  (the  younger),  266 
Naruszewicz,  316 
Nehring,  67,  272 
Nepomuk  St.  John,  46 
Nestor,  23 

Neuburg,  prince  of,  152,  155 
Nevers,  151 
Nicholas  I.,  of  Russia,  258,  259, 

345 
Nienien,  249,  255 
Niemcewicz,  241,  242,  260,  296-' 

298 
Niepolomice,  106 
Nieszawa,  56,  348 
Nitschmann,  295,  320 
Nogat,  II,  207 
Nosovich,  14 
Novgorod,  9 
Novgorod  Severski,  56 
Nowogrodek,  53,  242,  298 
Nuremberg,  45 


Oginski,  195 

Olawa,  177 

Olgerd,  9 

Oliwa,  146 

Opalinski,  133,  145,  289 

Oppeln,  46 

Orleans,  Philip,  Duke  of,  163 


INDEX. 


387 


Orsha,  10 
Orzarowski,  249 
Orzechowski,  279-284 
Ostrol^ko,  259 
Oswi^cim,  loi 
Otakar  Premysl,  86 
Otho  of  Germany,  26,  27 
Otho,  St.,  34 
Otrepiev,  126 

P 
Pac,  155 
Padua,  274 
Palmerston,  260 
Paprocki,  288 

Paris,  263,  293,  314,  317,  318 
Pasek,  153 
Paskevich,  252,  259 
Passau,  157 
Patkul,  197,  198 
Paul   of  Russia,    242,    244,  250, 

251,  293 
Paul  III.,  Pope,  274 
Paul  IV.,  Pope,  283 
Pawluk,  140 
Pedro,  of  Portugal,  177 
Pereiaslavl,  143 

Peter  the  Great,  lo,  II,   195-201 
Petersburg,  St.,  222,  259,  297 
Petofi,  262 
Petrycy,  288 
Philadelphia,  243 
Philip  II.,  of  Spain,  124 
Pianori,  262 
Piasecki,  290 
Piasts,  47 
Pierling,  65,  127 
Pi  la,  293 
Pilica,  249 
Pinsk,  124 

Piotrkow,  58,  82,  114,  345 
Plater  Emilia,  301 
Pleto,  206 
Plettenberg,  90 
Plock,  II,  34,  254 
Plowcze,  38 
Poblocki,  13 
Pociey,  124 
Podebrad,  55 

Podolia,  156,  223,  228,  259 
Pol,  324 


Polanow,  132 

Polotsk,  88 

Poltava,  198 

Pomorzt',  the,  223 

Poniatowski,  Count,  199 

Poniatowski,  Joseph,  249,  252,  318 

Poniatowski,  Stanislaus,    3,    212- 
i        251,  292 
i    Poninski,  225-226 
I    Pope,  182 

Popiel,  21 

Posen  (Poznan),  28,  197,  254,  255 

Possevino,  105,  124 

Potocki,  Felix,  224 

Potocki,  Ignatius,  224 

Potocki,  Joachim,  215 

Potocki,  Waclaw,  128,  289 

Praga,  206,  246 

Prescott,  321 

Prussians,    249,    253,    254,    261, 
267 

Przezdziecki,  27 1 

Przemyslaw,  38 

Ptolemy,  22 

Pulawy,  214 

Pushkin,  70,  304,  312 


R 


Raby,  Lord,  209 
Raczinski,  170 
Radziejowski,  196 
Radziwill,  Barbara,  82 
Radziwill,  Nicholas,  15,  84,  115 
Ragoczy,  141 
Rakow,  140,  275 
Rej  of  Naglowice,  275,  276,  280 
Revel,  17,  88,  121 
Richelieu,  150 
Riga,  115 
Rogozno,  28 
Romanov,  Michael,  232 
Rome,  278 
Ronsard,  97,  276 
Roj^ell,  320 
Rosner,  203 
Rousseau,  208,  294 
Rudawski,  290 
Rulhiere,  250 

Russians,  44,   70,  238,  244,  249, 
261,  267,  298 


388 


INDEX. 


Ryxa,  32 
Rzewuski,  224,  295 


Sagra  de  la,  Ramon,  306    307 

Saleman,  17 

Salicetus,  74 

Samogitians,  9,  14 

vSandecz,  271 

Sandomir,  ii,  254,  271 

Sapieha,  Leo,  129 

Sapieha,  238,  239 

Saratoga,  243 

Sarbiewski,  278,  307 

Sarnicki,  106 

Savannah,  222 

Saxony,  Elector  of,  254 

Schafarik,  22,  106 

Schassburg,  262 

Schiemann,  30,  32,  53 

Schimmer,  162 

Schleicher,  29 

Schmitt,  322 

Semigallia,  221 

Serbs,  309 

Sforza,  Bona,  72,  82 

Shakspere,  292 

Shelley,  301 

Shuiski,  127 

Siberia,  221,  259 

Sicinski,  143 

Sieradz,  131 

Sierakowski,  260 

Sigismund  I.,  70-82 

Sigismund  (Augustus)  II.,  15,  50, 

82-90 
Sigismund  III.,  3,  10,  16,  50,  106, 

1 19-132,  140 
Silesia,  33,  34,  46 
Skarga,  no,  115,  124,  148,  285 
Skrzynecki,  259 
Slowacki,  221,  314 
Smolensk,  10,  57,  76,  128,  146 
Smolka,  322 
Smotrycki,  129 
Sobieska,  Clementina,  178 
Sobieska,  Teresa,  177,  185 
Sobieski,  James  (the  elder),   155 
Sobieski,  James  (the younger),  162, 

170,  184,  193 


Sobieski.  John,  146,  155-184 
Socini,  275 
Solticki,  238 
Somo,  Sierra,  254 
Sophia  of  Kiev,  53,  272 
Sophia,  I'aheologa,  63 
South,  175,  176 
Southey,  22 
Spain,   150 
Speed,  131 

Stahremberg,  157,  168 
Stanislaus,  Bp.  of  Cracow,  33 
Starowolski,  290 
Staszic,  293 

Stephen  of  Moldavia,  61 
Stockholm,  119,  121 
Strawenski,  216,  220 
Stryc,  169 

Stryikowski,  286,  287 
Stwosz,  Wit,  58 
Suchoczino,  249 
Suchorzewski,  228 
Suckling,  277 
Suvorov,  239,  246,  248 
Sviatopolk.  28 
Sweden,  121,  255 
Switzerland,  244 
Sylvius,  ^Eneas,  54 
Szajnocha,  321,  322 
Szarospatak,  272 
Szujski,  322 
Szymonowicz,  277 


Talleyrand,  260 

Targowica,  118,  224,  228,  243 

Tarnowitz,  162 

Teczynski,  Andrew,  67 

Teczynski,  Jan,  67 

Teczynski,    Grand    Chamberlain, 

lOI 

Teil,  de  Count,  182 
Terlecki,  124 

Teutonic  Knights,  35,  36,  49,  51 
Thianges,  Chevalier  de,  205 
Thietmar,  28 

Thorn  (Torun),  11,  55,  66,68,74, 
123,  140,  203,  222,  223,  255,  275 
Thorwaldsen,  252,  275 
Thou  de,  92 


INDEX. 


389 


Tomicki,  96 
Towianski,  307 
Transylvania,  105 
Trembecki,  292,  315 
Troki,  53,  57 
TuUn,  162 

Turks,  54,  154,  156,  171 
Twardowski,  291 

U 

Uglitch,  126 
Ugro-Finns,  17 
Ujejski,  324-326 
Ulrich  von  Jungingen,  52 
Unruh,  Sigismund,  203 
Upsala,  119,  121 


Varna,  54 

Venetians,  171 

Vienna,  156- 171,  207,  257,  293 

Vistula,   II,  23,  68,  77,  222,  246, 

249 
Vitovt,  52,  54 
Vladimir,  51 

Volhynia,  8,  227,  228,  258 
Voltaire,  208 
Vostokov,  12 

W 

Waldeck,  prince  of,  268 

Wallachia,  74 

Waller,  182 

Wapowski,  Castellan,  loo,  107 

Wapowski  (historian),  286 

Warmia,  223 

Warsaw,  2,  11,  108,  127,  140,  145, 
150,  166,  179,  195,  198,  217- 
220,  239,  246-249,  254,  257- 
259,263,  264,  293,  316 

Warta,  26 

Washington,  243 

Watts,  278 

Watzelrode,  274 

Wawrzecki,  246,  249 

Wedrosza,  64 

W^gierski,  292 

Wehlau,  74 

VVeichselmiinde,  1 1 

Weissenburg,  200 

West  Point,  243 


Westphalia,  1 12 

White  Russians,  14 

Wieliczka,  12,  255 

Wielopolski,  264 

Wietor,  272 

Wilanow,  172,  180 

Wilno,  15,  49,  53,  64,65,  84,  239 

253,  254,  257,  259,  266,  316 
Wislica,  42 

Wisniowiecki,  Jer,  251 
Wisniowiec,  141 
Witepsk,  223,  259 
Wittenberg,  280 
Wladyslaw,  see  Ladislaus 
Wojcicki,  269 
WoUowicz,  115 
Wolter,  15 
Wordsworth,  301 
Wroclaw  (Podolia),  154 


Yam  Zapolski,  105 
Yaroslav,  28 


Zai^czek,  246,  257 

Zabiello,  229 

Zabokrzycki,  154 

Zakrzewski,  322 

Zaleski,  312 

Zamojski,  Starosta  of  Cracow,  107 

Zamojski,  Poli-h  general,  119 

Zamojski,  Chancell  r,  125 

Zamojski.  Count,  163 

Zamojski,  Count,  264,  265 

Zapolya,  Barbara,  72 

Zapolya,  John,  105 

Zborowski,  95,  97 

Zborowski,  Christopher,  117 

Zborowski,  Samuel,  100,  107 

Zemblak,  54 

Zernicke,  203 

Zholtia  Vodi,  140 

Zielence,  243 

Zimorowic/,  277 

Zolkiew,  177,  178,  181 

Zolkiewski,  127 

Zurawno,  127 


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